Ratings for the first night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) were similar to last week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) on C-SPAN’s live broadcast. The first night of the RNC drew nearly 444,000 viewers, while the Democratic counterpart on opening night drew just 76,000. The DNC’s opening night featured appearances by former First Lady Michelle Obama, one of the party’s top surrogates, and former Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich.
According to Nielsen Media ratings from last week, this year’s DNC swamped with viewership in 2016, showing less enthusiasm for Biden than Hillary Clinton, via Hill:
Democratic candidate for president Joe BidenThe speech on Thursday night was watched by 21.8 million viewers on television, topping the number of other major speeches delivered at the party’s convention earlier in the week.
Still, Biden’s numbers represent a 21 percent decline from the presidential candidate Hillary Clintonacceptance speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. They are also over 38 percent lower than President Trumpacceptance speech at the Republican convention four years ago, which drew 34.9 million viewers.
The opening night of the RNC featured former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Republican Steve Scalise (R-LA), Donald Trump Jr. and others. For much of the first night of the RNC, speakers shared personal stories about profiting from the Trump administration’s policies and exuded enthusiasm. The DNC has spent the last week condemning the president without any specific policy ideas.
The RNC continues throughout the week. Follow our coverage here.
