Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Final Trump-Biden presidential debate draws 63M viewers

The final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden drew much less viewers than their first meeting

Via AP news wire
Friday 23 October 2020 23:25 BST
Pictures of the Week in North America Photo Gallery
Pictures of the Week in North America Photo Gallery (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden drew 10 million fewer viewers than their first meeting.

An estimated 63 million viewers tuned into the debate featuring Trump and Biden Thursday night, the Nielsen company said Friday. The debate was hosted at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The numbers were tallied between 15 networks that aired the debate.

Trump and Biden's first matchup last month was seen by 73.1 million people. The second debate was canceled after Trump’s coronavirus infection and replaced by dueling town halls on ABC and NBC — the viewership for both the presidential candidates together was 27.6 million.

The Biden town hall reached 14.1 million people, while Trump had 13.5 million.

On Thursday, the candidates debated mostly over health care, energy policy and how Trump handled the coronavirus pandemic. Both candidates also had an exchange words over the business endeavors of Biden's son.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in