Presidential debate ratings set record with 81.4M viewers, Nielsen says

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The Coltons Point Times says -

Despite falling a huge 20% short of the news media projections, the Clinton-Trump debate barely beats out former leader Reagan-Carter.

Is this 20% shortfall a foreboding warning of how the news media is way off on poll results?

Updated September 27, 2016 5:03 PM
By Verne Gay  verne.gay@newsday.com

HIGHLIGHTS

• Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton debate at Hofstra is most-watched debate in history
• Bulk of viewers watched on the four major broadcast networks

Monday’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was seen by 81.4 million viewers across numerous broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen, making it the most-watched debate in history. The 1980 encounter between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter was seen by 80.6 million.

The bulk of viewers watched on the four major broadcast networks, with 43.8 million tuning in. An estimated 26.1 million watched the three cable news networks with Fox News (11.359 million) attracting the most viewers.

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The bulk of viewers watched on the network-owned stations, but other networks simulcast the debate, including Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, PBS, CNBC, MSNBC, Univision, Telemundo and C-SPAN. The networks’ websites also simulcast the debate. Numerous other websites, from BuzzFeed to Yahoo, streamed the debate, but those numbers are not counted by Nielsen.

There are 115.6 million homes in the United States with TVs; however, Nielsen doesn’t count one person per viewing household, but — on average — over two.

Pundits in recent days had thrown around a figure of 100 million viewers as the benchmark that could be possibly be achieved, or even exceeded.

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The People Pick Trump winner - The News Media Love Hillary - Guess the Establishment backs the Establishment

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Fox News (Conservative) and Yahoo News (Liberal) Agree

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Online votes declare Trump debate winner, despite media consensus for Clinton

Published September 27, 2016 

 FoxNews.com

If polls only included media pundits, Hillary Clinton would have won Monday’s debate by a landslide, but online surveys had Donald Trump as the yuge winner.

The Drudge Report online vote had 80 percent of respondents giving the victory to Trump, and a Time.com survey had the Republican nominee leading Clinton by 4 percentage points – 52 percent to 48 percent – after more than 1,300,000 votes were cast. CNBC and Breitbart votes also had Trump winning the event, at New York’s Hofstra University.

A Fox News online vote had Trump winning with 50 percent of respondents, Clinton at 35 percent and the other 15 percent declaring no one won.

The online surveys are not scientific and, in many cases, supporters of either candidate can cast multiple ballots. Still, the disconnect in judging Trump’s performance was reminiscent of the Republican Party primary, when pundits often said his competitors bested him while online polls put him on top.

Experts say the online votes are a good gauge of enthusiasm, which could mean Trump’s performance was enough to energize those who already backed him.

Experts were near unanimous in finding Clinton was more disciplined and armed with greater recall of facts, but Trump’s supporters believe his blunt style and unconventional background are among his best attributes.

Trump’s best moment, according to Stuart Tarlow, of American Thinker, came when he distinguished himself from Clinton based on their disparate backgrounds. Trump characterized his opponent as a "typical politician," who knows how to make statements and promises that sound good, but who never actually gets things done, Tarlow wrote.

Most experts agree the winner and loser won’t be determined based on arcane rules of debating. Hillary’s mission was to come off as well-versed on the facts and warm, while Trump’s goal was to appear capable of filling the role of chief executive.

The real test of who won and who lost will likely come in the next wave of scientific polling in what has become a dead-even race. If Trump continues to surge in key battleground states, it will be taken as evidence he accomplished what he needed to in the debate. If Clinton stops or even reverses his momentum, she may be retroactively declared the winner.

Edward Panetta, professor of communication studies at the University of Georgia and director of the Georgia Debate Union, said Trump got out of the gate fast, but then struggled.

“While Donald Trump was strong in the first 20 minutes of the debate he faltered badly as the debate progressed,” Panetta said.