CNN | Events | People | Politics | Ratings

CNN’s Presidential Debate Aired One Week Ago. Here’s What’s Happened Since.

By Ethan Alter 

What a difference a week makes. On June 27, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump took to their podiums at CNN’s Atlanta studios for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Heading into the event, both Biden and CNN seemed poised to benefit from the earlier-than-usual timing, but the ensuing days have seen various twists and turns in those narratives, along with some developments few anticipated. Here are some of the post-debate stories consuming the media coverage right now.

To step down or not to step down

Barely 10 minutes had elapsed in the debate before concern about Biden’s shaky start tipped over into outright panic on social media. The president’s hoarse voice, verbal stumbles and awkward facial expressions dominated the conversation on all of the post-debate panels hosted by the various news networks as well. As Brian Stelter noted in a Variety guest column, MSNBC was particularly candid in its criticisms of Biden’s performance and that honesty has continued over the past week.

Advertisement

By Friday morning, background rumblings within Democratic circles about replacing Biden at the top of the ticket moved very much into the foreground. That speculation grew more intense as the Biden family huddled at Camp David over the weekend to discuss his future on the campaign trail, as supporters like former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris signaled their support in public forums.

Despite early polls suggesting slipping support and expressions of concern amongst donors, Biden is still signaling that he’s not about to step aside. “I am running,” he reportedly told his campaign staff. “No one is pushing me out.” Biden may reinforce that message when he sits down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for his first major post-debate TV interview on Friday night.

What’s in a number?

Prior to the debate, the White House press corps went on the offensive to request more access to the event. In the week since, though, the group has been on the defensive over how it has approached the thorny topic of Biden’s age. Some members of the White House press pool are now saying they should have covered the issue more aggressively, while also noting that their access to the president has been limited.

Speaking with TVNewser in April, exiting White House Correspondents Association president Kelly O’Donnell acknowledged the lack of opportunities members had to speak to Biden directly. “We work at that regularly, and there is more that we would like to see done,” she remarked. “That tension will always exist, and that’s not meant as a complaint: Part of the work that we do is to try and push that ball forward.”

It appears that the WHCA may already be taking a more aggressive footing. A Thursday press conference with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was dominated by questions about his health and debate performance. At one point, Newsmax’s chief White House correspondent James Rosen joked about whether or not Biden was awake, a comment that drew immediaate criticism from both O’Donnell and Jean-Pierre.

Just the facts

Before Biden and Trump took the stage, CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash made it clear that their role in the proceedings was to “facilitate a debate” between the two candidates. Crucially, they didn’t say “fact-check.” That responsibility fell to Daniel Dale, who determined the accuracy of Biden and Trump’s various claims as part of the post-debate coverage.

CNN’s goal in taking fact-checking off of Tapper and Bash’s list of duties was to prevent either journalist from becoming part of the story. “It is up to the candidates to challenge one another in a debate,” a network spokesperson explained in a statement provided to Variety. And while Biden and Trump certainly challenged each other throughout their 90-minute encounter, viewers didn’t necessarily have a way of knowing whether the original claim or the challenge was more factual.

During the debate, opinion seemed evenly split on whether Tapper and Bash were being fair and balanced or abandoning their journalistic responsibilities by not challenging or correcting the candidates in real time. But criticism of CNN’s decision grew more vocal after Dale reported that Trump made 30 false claims from his podium. Some have already called on ABC News—which is currently scheduled to host the second presidential debate on Sept. 10—to make fact-checking part of the program.

Was June too soon?

Coming off of a lackluster May ratings report, CNN needed a serious viewership spike for June. And in that respect, the debate delivered. Final Nielsen numbers revealed that 9.53 million viewers watched Biden and Trump argue about their golf games on CNN, making the debate the highest-rated program in its history. CNN could also boast to having its best week of 2024, with triple digit week-to-week gains in total viewers and the all-important Adults 25-54 demo. A combined 51.3 million watched the debate across all networks and platforms that simulcast the debate and carried prominent CNN branding.

Those are big numbers—but crucially not bigger than the first time that Biden and Trump faced off in the 2020 presidential election, which attracted 73.1 million viewers in September of that year. It was also well behind the first encounter between Trump and Hillary Clinton in September 2016, which remains the most-watched debate of all time with 84 million viewers. And while CNN did finish ahead of rivals like Fox News and MSNBC, the race was close—only 254,000 total viewers separated CNN from FNC, while the total viewer gap between CNN and MSNBC was 320,000.

Furthermore, the network’s ratings halo is showing signs of wearing off. Viewership started to drop off the Friday after the debate and the audience for CNN’s primetime lineup settled back under the million-mark on Monday and Tuesday.

With ABC’s debate scheduled for closer to the election, they might see the benefit of increased attention… or a potential ticket change.

Trump stays off-camera

With all eyes on Biden—not to mention the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity—Trump has avoided taking any victory laps… in front of TV news cameras anyway. The GOP candidate has been actively boast-posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, and giving interviews to outlets like Richmond’s Morning News with John Reid. But Trump has yet to announced a big on-camera interview and he’s reportedly put a hold on revealing who will join him on the campaign trail as his vice presidential pick.

Expect that to change in the next few weeks, though. The Republican National Convention is kicking off in Milwaukee on July 15, allowing Trump and his surrogates to be on-camera every night. But Uncle Ben might say, with great exposure comes great scrutiny.

Advertisement