People are getting tired of hearing the 2020 Democrats talk.
The ratings for their latest debate last week show it. Of all the Dem debates so far, this one had the smallest audience.
Variety reports:
Sixth Democratic Debate Draws 6 Million Viewers, Lowest Figure in Current Cycle
Last night’s Democratic debate, which inevitably dealt with the recent impeachment of President Donald Trump, drew just over 6 million total viewers for PBS and Politico, according to Nielsen figures.
Topics such as the economy, climate change, racism, Afghanistan, and taxing the wealthy were also on the agenda.
That total, which counts the PBS broadcast and the simulcast on CNN and CNN en Español, makes it the least watched debate so far in the current cycle, only just behind the previous MSNBC debate which drew 6.5 million.
Last night’s squaring off reached more than 2 million viewers across PBS stations nationwide, and was seen on CNN by just over 4 million people.
Per PBS, the debate live streams across PBS NewsHour’s, Politico’s, PBS’s, and CNN’s digital and social platforms totaled more than 8.4 million viewers.
None of the Democratic debates thus far in this cycle have come near to the 24 million viewership figure posted by Donald Trump’s first debate on Fox News in August of 2015.
Part of the problem is that the Democrats have nothing new to offer. How many times can you sit and listen to Bernie Sanders railing about millionaires and billionaires?
Hot Air offers a few other possible explanations:
The only possible positive explanation is that voters have already made their voting choices for the primaries. That doesn’t make too much sense, given the volatility in polling for Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders over the last couple of months.
It’s tough to aggregate polling on “not sure” as RCP doesn’t track that response, but the NBC/WSJ poll this week showed 5% unsure, only down slightly from 8% in July when millions more tuned in to see a debate.
Similarly, the CNN poll series shows 5% unsure at the moment, but only 9% unsure in June. And the latest Quinnipiac survey shows 11% of Democratic voters are still unsure, the highest level since September. In this poll, 61% of those who do support a particular candidate say they still could change their mind, too.
No matter the reason, Democrats should be very concerned about the lack of enthusiasm.
It’s an indicator of what’s going to happen next fall.
Cross posted from American Lookout.
