ABC News' coverage of the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday drew about 58 million viewers, according to early Nielsen ratings data.
The highly anticipated showdown drew 57.7 million viewers across ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, FOX and CNN, beating the 51.3 million viewers who watched the debate between President Biden and President Trump in June.
ABC News, which hosted Tuesday's debate, drew 18.3 million viewers, followed by Fox, Fox News and Fox Business, which had a combined 13.7 million. NBC had 9.7 million and CBS had 5.9 million. MSNBC and CNN drew 6 million and 4.1 million, respectively.
Voters were eager to see how Harris could counter Trump after President Biden's dismal performance, which prompted the 46th president to decide not to run for a second term and hand the reins of power to his vice president.
While the Harris-Trump debate had strong viewership, it still fell short of the 73.1 million viewers who watched the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump four years ago, moderated by Fox News' Chris Wallace.
This time, viewers turned on their TVs to watch the 78-year-old Trump face off against the 59-year-old Harris, who won the Democratic presidential nomination last month.
The 45th president appeared to be unsettled at times, as Harris claimed military leaders told her that Trump was a “disgrace,” world leaders had “mocked” him and that after Trump was “fired by 81 million Americans” in 2020, “people are starting to leave his rallies early out of fatigue and boredom.”
Throughout the 90-minute debate, Trump traded barbs with Harris on abortion, foreign policy and crime, with ABC News hosts David Muir and Lindsey Davis interrupting to fact-check Trump, to the dismay of Republicans who complained that the Democratic candidate had been downplayed for her controversial comments.
When Trump claimed that crime in the United States was increasing because immigrants were allowed into the country under Harris' watch, “World News Tonight” host David Muir interjected, “Mr. President, as you know, the FBI has said that overall violent crime is actually going down.”
The Republican candidate fired back, saying his fact check “doesn't include the cities with the worst crime.” omission Data from Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.
The 45th President also said that President Biden [Harris] negotiate [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky and [Russian President Vladimir] “Putin did, and she did, and three days later the war started, and that's the talent we have in her,” he said, referring to the vice president, who is deployed to Europe in February 2022 to try to thwart the Kremlin's invasion of Kiev.
Muir asked Harris, “Vice President Harris, have you ever met President Vladimir Putin?” Harris, naturally, cited that as one of Trump's “lies.”
Ms. Harris’ performance was far stronger than Ms. Biden’s dismal showing in June, which stoked Democratic fears of a landslide victory for Mr. Trump. A former prosecutor, Ms. Harris avoided any major gaffes and dodged potentially damaging questions about her record and changing stances on a range of key issues.
Ahead of Tuesday night's debate, Trump supporters and Republican commentators have focused on Harris' close relationship with Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose companies include ABC News, and questioned ABC News' impartiality.
After the debate, they criticized the ABC News hosts, listing a long list of times Muir and Davis missed opportunities to fact-check Harris, including when she said Trump had jeopardized access to IVF treatment and that she would implement provisions of the right-wing “Project 2025” governing plan, despite Trump's repeated denials.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) Tweeted“ABC News refused to 'fact check' Kamala Harris for lying about President Trump's positions on: – Project 2025 – Comments on Charlottesville – Comments on 'bloodshed' – IVF.”
Democrats, meanwhile, reveled in the frustration with the moderator, arguing it was proof it was a bad night for Trump.
“He wants to be president of the United States, and we hope he can answer some obvious questions well,” a former Biden-Harris administration official told The Washington Post, adding that the attacks were “typical of a former president who is constantly blaming others for his own failures.”
