It's 2020, and while that means many things, perhaps most notable is that the United States is holding an election this year to see who will be our president for the next four years. President Donald Trump, a Republican businessman from Florida, is running for re-election. The Democratic Party has had the largest field in history as they attempt to find the perfect candidate to defeat him. One of the most important ways to try to pick out which candidate is just right is through debates, and there's been a ton of interest in them during this cycle. A record twenty-three candidates have hit the debate stage at some point in 2020. Let's take a walk though all eleven held so far to see how the ratings of each stack up to the rest.
Debate One, Night One - Wednesday, June 26
was also one of the more unusual ones. With a
field of candidates so large and relatively little
requirements for qualifying, twenty candidates
qualified this time around. This led to the first
debate being split into two nights. Broadcast
from Florida, the first night of the first debate
featured candidates considered to be in the "top
tier" such as Senators Elizabeth Warren, Amy
Klobuchar and Cory Booker and Representatives Beto O'Rourke (all polling above 3% at the time), as well as many candidates polling around 1% such as Representatives Tulsi Gabbard, John Delaney, and Tim Ryan and Governor Jay Inslee. Perhaps it was the fact that most of the perceived frontrunners weren't on the stage until the next night, but the debates got off to a solid but not massive start with a 2.6 in the 18-49 demo on NBC and MSNBC combined and 14.5 million viewers, easily leading the night.
Debate One, Night Two - Thursday, June 27
In night two of the first debate, frontrunners Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris all made their ways to the stage. These four candidates were beating every candidate in the polls from night one aside from Senator Warren. The rest of the group was filled with candidates polling lower, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, author Marianne Williamson, and businessman Andrew Yang. The higher-profile field led to a much higher 3.1 in the 18-49s and 17.25 million viewers, up nearly three million from the first night and again leading the night by a wide margin.
Debate Two, Night One - Tuesday, July 30
Debate Two, Night Two - Wednesday, July 31
This time around, it was the second night of the
debate that featured less big names. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the #1 and #4 candidate nationally at that time, debated six candidates polling at 2% or less, including Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee in their final debate appearances. Even with some smaller names dominating the stage, night two was again up from the previous night, taking in a 1.92 in the 18-49s and cracking 10.72 million viewers. It was easily the top show of the night, beating the #1 show on broadcast (Big Brother) by eight tenths.
debate that featured less big names. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the #1 and #4 candidate nationally at that time, debated six candidates polling at 2% or less, including Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet, Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee in their final debate appearances. Even with some smaller names dominating the stage, night two was again up from the previous night, taking in a 1.92 in the 18-49s and cracking 10.72 million viewers. It was easily the top show of the night, beating the #1 show on broadcast (Big Brother) by eight tenths.
Debate Three - Thursday, September 12
After the second debates, the DNC made it far harder to qualify for debates, requiring candidates to hit both polling requirements (2% in four polls) and fundraising requirements (130,000 unique donors). This led to half of the candidates who previously qualified, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Marianne Williamson, who hit the fundraising requirement but not the polling threshold, not making it into the debate. Gabbard would later qualify for the next two debates (Williamson would not, unfortunately for fans of her many gif-worthy moments). It was also the final debate to not compete against broadcast TV's in-season programming. The next time the Democrats would debate, the debate would air against broadcast TV's full fall lineup. This time, as the debate moved to ABC and broadcast live from Houston, more people tuned in than debate two. With a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo and 12.93 million viewers, the debate easily topped broadcast and took second for the night, behind Thursday Night Football.
Debate Four - Tuesday, October 15
CNN took the debate again this month, and what a debate it was. Welcoming businessman Tom Steyer to the stage for the first time and welcoming Rep. Gabbard back, while not kicking anyone out from debate three, the debate set a record for the largest debate in the history of US presidential elections (the 2016 Republicans previously held that record). It would be the final debate for Beto O'Rourke, who despite once being seen as a major contender had begun to drop, partly due to his performances in the debates, which many saw as lacking. Julian Castro would also not see another debate, failing to qualify for the rest of the debates while his candidacy was still active. Elizabeth Warren dominated the Ohio-set debate, speaking for a full six minutes longer than any other candidate. Whether due to the increased competition or declining interest, this became the lowest-rated debate at the time with a 1.5 in the 18-49 demo and 8.55 million viewers, tying This Is Us to become the #1 show of the night.
Debate Five - Wednesday, November 20
on MSNBC, debate number five dropped two
candidates and had a somewhat-reasonable ten
candidates on-stage as they broadcast from
Atlanta. In one of the shorter of the 2020
debates, Elizabeth Warren again had the most
speaking time, though Pete Buttigieg and Joe
Biden both spoke a similar amount of time.
Three candidates said "bye forever" after this
debate, with Kamala Harris dropping out after
the debate and Cory Booker and Tulsi Gabbard (who is still running!) both failing to ever qualify for further debates. Facing stiffer competition than ever before, the debate dropped by multiple tenths to another new low, with a 1.08 in the 18-49 demo and 6.6 million viewers. That was only enough to give it fifth place for the night, behind The Masked Singer, Survivor, and two of the One Chicago series.
Debate Six - Thursday, December 19
It's the holiday season by now, and the Democrats headed to Los Angeles to debate for the sixth time. It was by far the smallest debate to-date, with "only" seven candidates on the stage, six of whom had perfect attendance at the debates at this point. PBS took over the debate this time, with a simulcast on CNN. It was a debate filled with controversy ahead of time, as the DNC previously canceled its plans to hold the debate at UCLA over a labor dispute. A month later, all seven qualifying candidates announced that they would boycott the debate in solidarity with union workers at Loyola Marymount University, the new host of the debate. That dispute was cleared up days ahead of the debate. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard also announced that she would skip the debate before the qualification period ended. She didn't have to worry about skipping out, however, as she didn't qualify for the debate. Senators Sanders, Klobuchar and Warren and Mayor Buttigieg all spoke for north of 19 minutes this time around, with the remaining three candidates speaking for notably shorter amounts. Ratings for this debate aren't fully reported due to it airing on PBS, but the CNN broadcast gathered a 0.65 in the 18-49 ratings, and the PBS and CNN airings together drew 6.17 million viewers, a new low.Debate Seven - Tuesday, January 15
in-the-nation, and this year, disastrous, caucus,
the leading Democrats descended on Iowa to
debate a seventh time. It was the first debate
actually held in 2020, and once again, a
candidate who had previously qualified
dropped off the stage. Andrew Yang failed to
make it into the debates, a controversial
exclusion due to it leaving only white
candidates on the debate stage. The debate was
most notable for a confrontation between longtime allies Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Interest in the debate was on the rise, with a 1.35 in the 18-49 ratings and 7.36 million viewers, taking third place for the night in the most-recent CNN debate.
Debate Eight - Friday, February 7
Debate Nine - Wednesday, February 19
In the most recent debate of the cycle, all eyes were on ex-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The billionaire that's been running non-stop ads had never before made the debate stage despite running since November. DNC debate qualification requirements left Bloomberg, who is self-funding his campaign, unable to qualify previously. The rules were later changed, which allowed Bloomberg, a top contender in nationwide polls, to debate. The rest of the candidates came after him hard in an attempt to stop his growth in the polls ahead of Super Tuesday, where he'll hope to gather a large percentage of delegates. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, both standouts at previous debates and two of the only three women left in the race, had the most time to speak in a debate filled with clashes and arguments, while Bloomberg had the least time. The impact that the debate had on the future of the race is yet to be seen, but one thing is sure: it was a massive debate. Drawing the highest ratings of any 2020 debate, the Nevada-set debate drew a massive 3.3 in the 18-49s and 19.69 million viewers on NBC and MSNBC, making it by far the night's top program and putting it two tenths ahead of the first debate, and making it the most-watched Democratic debate of all-time.
Debate Ten - Tuesday, February 25
