I spent over an hour trying to find out the number of people who watched last night's CNN debates. I am not interested in pollster lingo, so a 11.6 Nielsen means nothing to me. I realize that's 11.6 % of total number of homes with televisions but 11.6 % of how many? Does the number of faces who watched CNN last night exceed the 25 million who watched the first GOP debate or the 23 million who watched the second?
Sometimes it's what they don't say: If CNN et al reveal the lingo but not the actual numbers if viewers it's because the absolute numbers are unfavorable to the Dems. If they highlight that the debate was the highest-ever Democratic debate while omitting the numbers, it's because the numbers are unfavorable to the Dems. If we are repeatedly told that GOP debates' audiences were inflated by the presence of Donald Trump, it is to excuse a less than impressive Dem audience.
The numbers will come out soon enough, after the pundits can praise Hillary and the 3 VP candidates and the bitter man who missed The Russian Revolution by a century. Oh and they will excuse the low numbers by the Mets vs. Dodgers competition. Oh and the afterglow of the Cubs victory.
Prediction: After the Hillary praise subsides, we will hear about the enthusiasm gap.
1 comment:
The Democratic debate scored about 9 million fewer viewers than the Republicans but even that was double Hillary's final face off with Obama in 2008. Someone on CNN I heard tonight credited Trump for raising voter interest in politics which I think is more than accurate.
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