32,380,000 Homes Tuned to Tuesday’s Debate
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NEW YORK — Viewers in 32,380,000 homes saw last Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate on the three major networks and Cable News Network, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. estimates made available Friday.
The face-off between Sens. Lloyd Bentsen and Daniel Quayle was seen in about 3 million fewer homes than were reported tuned in for the first presidential debate on Sept. 25 between Vice President George Bush and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
But the Bentsen-Quayle match was seen in about 667,000 more homes than the last televised vice-presidential debate, held on Oct. 11, 1984 between Bush and the Democrats’ Geraldine Ferraro.
ABC research officials estimated that between 50 and 52 million persons saw the Bentsen-Quayle debate.
Nielsen estimates for Tuesday’s 90-minute encounter show that the debate’s broadcast on the three networks and CNN drew a 55% share of the national audience, just 5% less than for the first Bush-Dukakis meeting.
No national estimates were available for public TV or C-SPAN, which also carried the debate.
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