Dec 20, 2019

Sixth Democratic debate draws smallest audience in election cycle

Thursday night's Democratic primary debate. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

About 6.171 million people watched December's Democratic debate hosted by CNN, Politico and PBS NewsHour on Thursday, according to Nielsen data cited by CNN on Friday.

The big picture: That makes Thursday's debate the least-watched of this election cycle, The Hollywood Reporter notes. The second night of the first debate, hosted by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo in June, was the most-watched Democratic primary debate of all time, with 18.1 million people tuning in.

  • CNN's simulcast of this week's debate garnered 4.088 million viewers, while PBS drew in 2.062 million. Another 20,000 watched on CNN en Español.
  • CNN topped primetime coverage among its competitors, Fox News and MSNBC, the network said in its news release.

By the numbers: 16 million people tuned in to watch the House vote on articles of impeachment against President Trump one day before the debate.

Go deeper: 4 takeaways from the sixth Democratic debate

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Rebecca Falconer
Updated 10 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Updates: George Floyd protests nationwide

Police officers wearing riot gear push back demonstrators outside of the White House on Monday. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images

Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police-related killings of black people continued for a seventh day across the U.S., with President Trump threatening on Monday to deploy the military if the unrest continues.

The latest: "Widespread looting" occurred in Manhattan, including at "Macy's flagship store in Herald Square and luxury stores along Fifth Avenue" as the 11 p.m. curfew began Monday, per the New York Times.

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Axios
Updated 48 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 6,273,402 — Total deaths: 375,683 — Total recoveries — 2,697,873 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 1,811,277 — Total deaths: 105,147 — Total recoveries: 458,231 — Total tested: 17,340,682 — Map.
  3. Public health: Nearly 26,000 coronavirus deaths in nursing homes have been reported to federal health officials —Coronavirus looms over George Floyd protests across the country.
  4. Federal government: Trump lashes out at governors, calls for National Guard to "dominate" streets.
  5. World: Former FDA commissioner says "this is not the time" to cut ties with WHO.
  6. 🎧 Podcast: The virus didn't go away.
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Ursula Perano
Updated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

St. John's clergy: Trump used church as prop, Bible as symbol of division

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Clergy of the historic St. John's Episcopal Church expressed furor and confusion over President Trump's visit on Monday, which he claimed was to honor the establishment after George Floyd protestors sparked a small fire on the property Sunday night.

The big picture: Park rangers and military police deployed tear gas and physical force to disperse peaceful protestors from Lafayette Park, which surrounds the White House, so Trump could walk to "pay respects" to the church — and a St. John's rector on the scene revealed in a Facebook post that she was left "coughing" from the tear gas.

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