Sarah Palin Gets Huge TV Ratings For Acceptance Speech
GOP Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin got big ratings for her peppery acceptance speech:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin proved Wednesday night she could deliver a good speech – and a huge audience.
An estimated 37.24 million viewers tuned into six networks measured by the Nielsen Company to see the vice presidential nominee’s speech before the Republican National Convention.
The numbers were just short of the 38.37 million people who tuned in to see Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama address the Democratic National Convention last Thursday, which aired on 10 networks.
She also topped Obama’s vice presidential pick, Sen. Joe Biden, who drew just 24.02 million viewers, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who averaged 25.9 million, in appearances at the DNC a week before, according to Nielsen.
Just as the ratings on Obama’s speech meant that viewers could watch him unfiltered without any left, right, center commentary and judge for themselves, Palin’s huge audience share means that viewers could make their own decision. Now the question becomes: as the days wear on (1) will the ticket’s numbers go up as it clearly unifies the party? (2) will they go up enough (since neither party is going to win unless they get a good chunk of the independent voters)? The voting jury is still out — but polls should start coming in soon. And, then, GOP nominee Sen. John McCain gives his big speech tonight.
14 Responses to “Sarah Palin Gets Huge TV Ratings For Acceptance Speech”
I believe I'm beginning to show symptoms of Palin fatigue. I wonder if it's communicable.
I can't help but think McCain won't be able to match the ratings numbers of Palin. Am I too late for a Pandora's Box analogy?
Initial reaction is positive and broad. And no Super Bowl-American Idol chintziness.
Interest in the GOP vs. Dem team is now re-balanced; wait at least a week for the new balancing point to be reached once the convention glow subsides from this week.
“Palin fatigue” = we're tired already of the predictable crappy attacks from the other side — desperate due to a surprising GOP success out of nowhere, it seems.
Nobody expects McCain to match the ratings numbers of Palin. How could he?
Pressure is on McCain to do well and anything less than good will deflate things and brake the momentum. Clumsy appearance by him (Obama imitation) after Palin's speech was not a good sign but we'll just have to wait and see how he does in this speech. Though it's nothing like the Obama Nuremberg Rally hype, the media are making a note about the stage being modified to suit McCain's favored speech style (town hall among-the-people arrangement). Could help, we'll see.
Wait at least a week for the graphs to smooth and the new balance point reached.
http://iemweb.biz.uiowa.edu/graphs/graph_Pres08…
http://iemweb.biz.uiowa.edu/graphs/graph_Pres08…
And PBS (which you're paying for) has better coverage than the networks. Use PBS.
I thought I would post this little pick-me-up for my good friends in the blue lagoon to savor tonight over dinner………
CBS) The presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain is now even at 42 percent, according to a new CBS News poll conducted Monday-Wednesday of this week. Twelve percent are undecided according to the poll, and one percent said they wouldn't vote.
This is in contrast to a poll conducted last weekend, where the Obama-Biden ticket led McCain-Palin by eight points, 48 percent to 40 percent.
http://www.pollingreport.com/wh08gen.htm
I posted it with a similar post on the DNC, so I will post it again with the RNC: the viewership can only be good news for Republicans….
pacatrue,
It definitely shows that the Palin pick was fascinating for people.
pacatrue said: “the viewership can only be good news for Republicans….“
If my memory serves me… “The Beverley Hillbillies” had a large audience, too. Cutesy ignorance is entertaining.
[sigh]
Paca is onto something — something that takes more thinking than some can do, it seems. (I've waited for others to note this before noting it myself.)
The viewership has nothing to do with how good Palin's speech was, don't forget. Nobody (except some in Alaska) could have known how well she would have done.
The high viewership indicates Palin is, as some of us have said, a pleasing and an attractive surprise choice by McCain for Vice President and indicative in a greater amount of interest in the GOP this year (at least as an alternative to the Democrats if the GOP is any good this year), especially if it is different than 2004-2008, which this ticket offers to be. There is more potential public preference for McCain with a good VP than for Obama-Biden than so many people realize — or have yet to understand.
Yes, she has rescued McCain and injected life into the GOP campaign. The numbers demonstrate it. The voters aren't all beholden to Obama automatically.
DLS: “And PBS (which you're paying for) has better coverage than the networks. Use PBS.”
Oh the irony in that statement DLS. I thought the memo from the GOP was that PBS and NRP was nothing but a waste of tax payer money.
casualobserver,
There's a pretty good reason for the shift: a completely different party ID sample.
The Previous CBS Poll
874 Respondents
228 R = 26.2%
308 D = 35.24%
337 I = 38.55%
The NEW CBS Poll
691 Respondents
215 R = 31.11%
241 D = 34.07%
235 I = 34.00%
Since the poll was during and not after the RNC, a good explanation for this is that Republicans are more likely to be home watching the coverage and Democrats are less likely to be home. The reverse was true during the DNC.
Party ID just doesn't shift that much in a short period of time.
Very interesting point, elrod. In a sense, your point about the polling data also emphasizes the vital role that voter turnout plays in the real election. It's fine for someone to support McCain or Obama, but if that someone doesn't show up in November….
However, I just noticed something else rather intriguing in the numbers, which is the percentage shift in independents. It's only 4.5%, but were less Independents also staying home to watch the RNC?
Rambie: PBS and NPR ideally should be doing what C-SPAN is doing now, as well as functioning when necessary as a federal disaster and other special-event kind of channel set on the airwaves.