to update: Viewership for the Democratic National Convention rose slightly on its second night, averaging 20.6 million viewers on Tuesday after hitting 20 million on Monday.
As of the previous night, the networks included in Nielsen's measurement are ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
Tuesday's coverage included speeches by Barack and Michelle Obama, and the former president's speech, according to Nielsen, saw audiences jump above the previous night's average to 21.6 million.
“We don’t need four more years of bluster and chaos,” he said, referring to Trump’s first term as president and his current bid to return to office. “We’ve seen this movie before, and we all know the second part is usually worse.” When the crowd began booing Trump, he repeated a famous line from his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, when Trump was first running against Hillary Clinton: “Don’t boo. Vote.”
In her speech, the former first lady described the presidency as a “black job,” a reference to a comment Trump made during his debate against Joe Biden earlier this summer.
“His narrow, limited worldview made him feel threatened by the presence of two successful, highly educated, hard-working people who were black,” she said. “Wait, I want to know — who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently looking for might just be one of those jobs reserved for black people?”
previously: According to Nielsen, 20 million viewers watched the Democratic National Convention across networks on Monday.
That puts the first night of the Democratic National Convention above each of the first three nights of the Republican National Convention last month, which reached 18.1 million, 14.8 million and 18 million viewers, respectively. The final night of the Republican National Convention, which featured a speech by Donald Trump, averaged 25.4 million viewers and peaked at 28.4 million.
Nielsen estimates take into account media coverage from ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, Univision, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
This year's conference is being held in Chicago, and the first night features speeches from President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
Biden, who was running for re-election before dropping out of the race in July, has promised to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ “best volunteer.” He has commented on his campaign and presidency by quoting “The American Anthem,” which he also referenced in his 2021 inaugural address. “Let me know in my heart, when my days are done. America, America, I have done my best for you,” he said.
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, criticized the former president during her speech, saying, “Donald Trump fell asleep at his impeachment trial. And when he woke up, he made his own history, the first person to run for president after being convicted of 34 felonies.” She said of Harris, “You will never write love letters to dictators. No matter what the polls say, we cannot stop. We cannot be dragged down the rabbit hole of crazy conspiracy. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala as she would fight for us. And you know what? It still takes a village to raise a family, to heal a country, to win a campaign.”
