On one hand I find it so hard to fathom that there are 7 million Americans being brainwashed by this political arm of the Republican Party, and they are too dense to have a clue that they are being brainwashed. On the other hand, I guess I should be somewhat comforted that they only comprise 14% of the total of Americans who actually watched the debates. What I also find interesting is that there were no numbers reported for C-Span, which is where I watched. :shrug:
Debate pulls second-largest political audience ever
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Lynn ElberOct. 15, 2004 | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Even a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game was no match for the TV audience's interest in the final debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.
An estimated 51.2 million viewers watched the candidates in Wednesday's debate, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Thursday.
That exceeded the 46.7 million who watched the second debate on Oct. 8 but fell short of the 62.5 million who saw the Sept. 30 match.
<snip>
Among the networks, ABC drew the biggest debate audience with 14.5 million viewers. Having the high-rated drama ``Lost'' as a lead-in to the debate boosted ABC, which had trailed NBC in the other debates.
NBC was second Wednesday with 13.3 million viewers, followed by CBS with 10.7 million. Bob Schieffer of CBS News was the moderator.
Among cable networks, Fox News Channel led with 6.9 million viewers. CNN had 3.7 million and MSNBC had 2.1 million.
more.....
http://salon.com/news/wire/2004/10/15/debate2/index.html