John McCain and Barack Obama’s final debate of the presidential race drew 56.5 million television viewers, falling between their two previous bouts as politics vied with America’s pastime — baseball.
Viewership of the 90-minute debate on Wednesday likely was diminished by the Fox network’s telecast of the decisive Game 5 victory of the Philadelphia Phillies over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
In Philadelphia, the fourth-largest TV market in the United States, more viewers watched the baseball game than the debate on all other networks combined, Nielsen Media Research said on Thursday.
Los Angeles is the nation’s second-largest TV market but drew a smaller audience for the game — roughly 800,000 viewers compared with nearly 1.5 million in Philadelphia.
“It’s hard to say how many of those baseball viewers wouldn’t have watched (the debate) anyway, so it’s hard to measure,” Nielsen analyst Anne Elliot told Reuters. “But I think it’s fair to say that it could well have had an impact.”
With the Nov. 4 election looming, 35 percent of all households tuned in to see McCain, the Republican candidate, spar with Obama, his Democratic rival, on economic turmoil, health care, taxes and other issues, Nielsen reported.
That was higher than the household rating of 31.6 percent, or 52.4 million viewers, for their first debate on Sept. 26 but lower than the 38.8 percent of homes, or 63.2 million viewers, for their second match-up on Oct. 7.
It also was lower than the Oct. 2 showdown between the vice presidential candidates, Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden, the most-watched nationally televised debate in 16 years with nearly 70 million viewers.
The three Obama-McCain encounters together averaged 57.4 million viewers, 5 million more than the average for the three debates in 2004 between Republican President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry.
The most-watched televised presidential debate on record was the 1980 showdown between Democratic President Jimmy Carter and his Republican foe, Ronald Reagan.
Reviews of Wednesday’s debate were mixed, as usual, with many commentators saying McCain improved his performance over the two previous face-offs. Others said his body language may have worked against him.
Two snap viewer polls, by CBS and CNN, again judged Obama the winner.
CBS News veteran Bob Schieffer got generally high marks as moderator of the debate, which was widely viewed as more spirited and contentious than the previous two.