DNC Crushes RNC’s Ratings Again on Night No. 2 by 39 Percent
Over 20.5 million people tuned in to watch the Democratic National Convention’s second night, according to Nielsen.
Mike Segar/Reuters
The Democratic National Convention again surpassed its Republican counterpart in viewership numbers Tuesday night, with an average of more than 20 million Americans tuning in compared to the RNC’s 14 million on its second night—a nearly 39% difference.
The event even garnered roughly 500,000 more viewers than its first night—a historical anomaly, according to Nielsen data.
Typically, fewer viewers tune in to the conventions on the second night.
The 2024 convention is the first Democratic conference to have higher ratings on the second night in the last decade—most likely propelled by the primetime speeches given by former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The former president’s speech saw the highest spike in viewership over the course of the night, Nielsen confirmed. An average of 21.9 million people tuned in to watch Obama speak—slightly higher than the rest of the night.
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The 2024 RNC only had an average of 14.8 million viewers during its second night.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama, left greets Michelle Obama as he arrives to speak on stage during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
However, Nielsen’s numbers also show that Democrats are still struggling to attract young voters. Only 950,000 viewers between the ages of 18-34 watched the broadcast on Tuesday—slightly more than the 941,000 who tuned in for the in 2020 convention, but far from the 2 million who watched in 2016.
The last day of the convention usually draws the most viewers—an estimated 29.8 million people tuned in to watch Hilary Clinton accept the nomination in 2016, while 24.6 watched Joe Biden do the same in 2020.
It remains to be seen if Harris will top the RNC’s ratings when she takes the stage on the final night of the conference in Chicago. About 25.3 million people tuned in to watch former President Donald Trump accept the nomination last month.
Privately, Trump has been fixating on the possible ratings for the DNC, Rolling Stone reported before the convention began, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. He has been touting his massive viewership on the final night of the RNC, calling it “tremendous.”
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff smiles as he speaks on the second night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The former president was also reportedly bragging about conference ratings during the 2020 election season—which also saw the DNC trouncing the Republicans on all four nights.
Trump, who lived in the television world for decades on his hit show “The Apprentice,” has long been obsessed with ratings, according to insiders.
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