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This week’s VP debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance saw a drop in ratings among Hurricane Helene-impacted states and Hispanic viewers, TheWrap can reveal exclusively.
The CBS News-hosted debate brought in 43.15 million viewers across 15 networks — down 35.69% from the ABC news-hosted Harris-Trump debate in September 2024 — viewership dropped even more among two key swing states, Georgia and North Carolina, amid the ongoing devastation of Hurricane Helene.
Viewership for the Walz-Vance debate was also down 37% in Georgia and 39% in North Carolina when compared to Harris-Trump debate, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day average audience data, as the Southeast repaired the damage from the Category 4 hurricane.
Other swing states, however, went against the larger ratings decline, with Michigan and Arizona actually seeing a slight uptick in viewership for the 2024 VP debate when compared to the first presidential debate for the 2024 election between President Joe Biden and Trump, hosted by CNN. Wisconsin still underwent a ratings drop with the state only saw a 20% ratings downtick when compared to the Harris-Trump debate, but saw a 13% increase when compared with the Biden-Trump debate.
The Walz-Vance debate also saw a decline among Hispanic audiences, with viewership for the demographic down 57% when compared to the Harris-Trump debate. While both the 2024 Harris-Trump and Biden-Trump debates saw its audience comprise of 11-12% Hispanic viewers, the Walz-Vance debate ticked in at just 7%.
It’s important to note that while both the Biden-Trump and Harris-Trump debates were broadcast on Spanish-language broadcast channels Telemundo and Univision — which accounted for 28% of the Hispanic audience for the Harris-Trump debate — the Walz-Vance debate was not broadcast on either channel.
Of the 43.15 million viewers tuning into the Walz-Vance debate, the audience was comprised of 3.013 million people ages 18-34, 9.47 million viewers ages 35-54 and 29.7 million people ages 55+. The debate aired across 15 networks, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Merit Street Media, Scripps News, CNN, CNNe, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network, MSNBC, NBC Universo, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
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