Democrat President Joe Biden’s big State of the Union speech tanked in the ratings.
Bill Clinton’s 1994 State of the Union averaged some 45.8 million total viewers.
President Donald Trump’s SOTU in 2018 averaged 45.55 million.
George W. Bush’s SOTU speech in 2002 averaged 51.77 million total viewers.
Joe Biden averaged 33.83 million in 2022 (early numbers) and finished with 38.2 million total viewers.
This year, however, Biden saw a massive drop in viewers from the year before.
The early numbers show Biden had a dismal 24.1 million viewers across the major cable news networks and the top four broadcast news channels.
When all is said and done Biden will have averaged around 29 million viewers, a major drop from the previous year.
Biden said today: “I spent most of my career with the Congress and members of the Congress.
“I know the place well.
“I know the system well.
“And I always feel comfortable when I’m up on the Hill. For real.”
According to Politico, Biden’s staff was pleased the president made no major gaffes:
Inside the White House, where aides anxiously watched the proceedings, a palpable relief set in as the 73-minute speech progressed.
Some said they literally began breathing easier once Biden got on a roll, taking comfort in his smiling retorts to jeering Republican House members.
It wasn’t only that the 80-year-old, gaffe-prone president had avoided any serious misstep.
It was that Biden showed he was up for a fight and, frankly, had a few uppercuts left in him.
“The energy of the speech, particularly the joyful jousting with the Republican hecklers, was a powerful rejoinder to those who question his mental acuity,” said David Axelrod, the former Barack Obama adviser, and someone not prone to hold back on Biden skepticism.
“The speech,” he added, gave “Democrats a messaging road map.”
According to Mediaite:
Fox News scored 4.69 million total viewers and 846,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic, which is heavily favored by advertisers.
While Fox News led all of television in total viewers, ABC topped in the demo with 1.075 million viewers, while NBC came in second and Fox News landed third.
In total viewers, ABC came in second behind Fox News with 4.4 million viewers, followed by NBC’s 3.78 million total viewers.
Fox News was down significantly from 2022, when it brought in 7.21 million viewers to lead all of television, ABC also dipped from its 6.3 million viewers last year.
On cable news, MSNBC came in second place with 3.55 million total viewers, which landed the network in fifth place overall.
CNN brought in 2.39 million total viewers and a strong 646,000 demo viewers. MSNBC came in third on cable news in the demo with 496,000 viewers.
NEW: Less than 28 Million people watched President Biden deliver his State of the Union address, per Nielsen Media Research.
Represents a 29 percent dip in ratings from last year’s SOTU.
59 percent watched broadcast network coverage.
41 percent watched coverage on cable.
— Dominick Mastrangelo (@DomMastrangelo1) February 8, 2023
On cable, Fox News topped all networks, notching 4.6 million viewers. It was followed by MSNBC, which brought in 3.5 million, and CNN, which netted 2.3 million
Fox also outpaced each of the major broadcast networks, including ABC, which brought in 4.4 million , and NBC (3.7)
— Dominick Mastrangelo (@DomMastrangelo1) February 9, 2023
The number of total viewers for State of the Union is down significantly from the 38 million who watched Biden’s speech last year and is almost half the 45.6 million who watched former President Trump’s first address in 2018.
Story: https://t.co/pafXRDWggR
— Dominick Mastrangelo (@DomMastrangelo1) February 9, 2023