Saturday's debate drew 7.85 million viewers, per Nielsen

[anigbrowl]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2015/12/preliminary-abc-democratic-debate-numbers-not-bad-217027

Though the rating makes it the least watched debate of the 2016 cycle, the number is higher than some were expecting for a debate on the Saturday before Christmas and with only three candidates on stage.

Even the lowest primary debate numbers from the 2016 cycle are far exceeding the average debate ratings from the 2008 and 2012 cycles. The most watched primary debate of the 2012 election cycle averaged 7.63 million viewers, also on ABC on Dec. 10, 2011

I've seen all debates from both major parties so far. If anything Saturday's debate was more convenient to watch than last Tuesday's GOP debate, as I live in California and so coverage of that started at 3pm in the afternoon, requiring some work to be rescheduled so I could watch Lindsay Graham's swan song. Frankly I think the complaints about the debate scheduling are overblown, the actual viewer numbers are not that bad.

If you are worried about the larger # of GOP debates getting their message out, don't be. Having seen them all so far there's a lot less policy or substantive discussion on the GOP side due to the large # of candidates. The GOP debates were slightly more entertaining, but on in the sense that pro wrestles slightly resembles a competitive sport.

[randys1]

1. And Hillary is doing so well in the debates, I wonder if DWS is sorry she

made the terrible choices she did in not having more or better scheduled.

[Thinkingabout]

2. If a person wants to view the debate there are too many to view the debate, all else is

distraction.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. I'm a pretty politically tuned-in person

I have never watched an entire primary debate in my entire life.

Honestly. Some peoplez need to chill the fuck out.

[LuvLoogie]

4. Any move not initiated by the Sanders Campaign

is a plot to suppress the Truth of The Revolution.

[bigwillq]

5. I find the debates to be nothing more than political theater

And not good theater at that. I never watch them in full either. I'll watch clips or read articles to get the info I need about the debates.

[MeNMyVolt]

6. Same here. Heck, I went to the '07 Soldeir Field debate...

... and the only things I remember is sweating my ass off, getting a good picture of the future Pres from about 2 feet away (he didn't sweat), and DK' wife for some reason, when they were greeting the crowd at the end.

Primary debates mean nothing. I'm happy my candidate is winning them, but she's so far ahead at this point that all real polls will show her "winning" them.

[coyote]

7. Debbie blink blink: "Mission Accompolished"

Those are horrendous numbers.