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46 Million Tuned In To Gore-Bush Debate

Ratings Still Low Compared To Previous Presidential Debates

NEW YORK, Updated 1:17 p.m. EDT October 5, 2000 -- The first presidential debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush on Tuesday night drew more than 46 million viewers, roughly the same as the opening on-screen tussle of the 1996 Clinton-Dole campaign, according to Reuters.


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However, official ratings released by Nielsen media research late on Wednesday included viewers who watched the broadcast tape-delayed on NBC after the American League baseball playoff, and on Fox following the premiere of science fiction thriller "Dark Angel."

Nielsen told Reuters that 46.6 million viewers tuned in watch Democrat candidate Gore confront the Republicans' Bush, compared with 46.1 million in 1996 for Clinton-Dole, when all four networks carried the broadcast live, despite time differences with the West Coast.

This year's figures included ABC, CBS, CNN and cable channels not included in 1996 ratings figures, such as MSNBC, plus NBC and Fox's tape-delayed telecasts.

The combined debate viewership of the cable networks was 6.2 million.

The ratings outstripped preliminary network forecasts that the debate would be the least-watched since Kennedy and Nixon kicked off the modern televised campaign in 1960.

The results eased pressure on Fox and NBC, who offered feeds of Gore versus Bush to affiliates following criticism of their sport and entertainment broadcast plans.

The Federal Communications Commission, political figures and media accountability bodies attacked the two networks for placing their financial interest ahead of the public interest.

The audience for presidential debates has gradually declined since 1960, despite different methods for collecting ratings and the high audience for the 1992 Clinton-Bush-Perot debates, according to Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 1960, the first debate garnered 66.4 million viewers.