McCain's Acceptance Speech Draws Bigger Audience Than Obama's

By: Scott Conroy
Topics: In The News

Barack Obama may have had a much larger crowd watching his acceptance at Invesco Field in Denver than John McCain did inside the Republican Convention hall in St. Paul, but according to Neilsen ratings released today, more people watched McCain's speech on TV.

38.9 million people viewed McCain's address to his convention in St. Paul, while 38.4 million watched Obama's speech in Denver, according to the Neilsen ratings.

Significantly more men than women watched McCain's speech, while more women than men watched Obama's speech.

More than 5 million more white viewers watched McCain's speech, but more than 4.5 million African-Americans tuned into to watch Obama accept his party's nomination.

Scott Conroy
Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.
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by mattcat25 September 8, 2008 1:24 PM EDT: John Grampy McCain seemed that he almost needed to be rolled out on a wheelchair to his spot at the speech podium. McCain was speaking to a fired up right wing audience, but the convention attendees seemed a bit bewildered when Gramps stated that he doesn%u2019t work for a Political Party or Special Interests Groups, he works %u201Cfor you!%u201D the Republican Party Crowd jumped to applause, but then many I observed to be puzzled at that statement.

So, What is it?
Are John McCain and Sarah Palin changing the Republican Party and redirecting the Conservative Agenda?

Or, was McCain (and his new crony Palin) simply just lying (as Republicans always seem to do so very well) to the American electorate?

Change? Reform? REGROUP?; Reply to this comment


by kate1149 September 8, 2008 8:52 AM EDT: Of course McCain would get more TV watchers - young people do not sit at home and watch political conventions. The under 45 crowd that is heavily for Obama get their news from the Internet - they don''t even watch the nightly news. Studies have shown that nightly news shows are watched by those who are 55 and above - and politics on TV is just not something the younger generation is into. This does not mean that they don''t keep up on what is going on or that they don''t blog - but the Internet is their major media outlet.; Reply to this comment


by vincan-2009 September 8, 2008 12:10 AM EDT: Everyone who watched McCain''s convention speech said it was so boring that the protesters were the most interesting thing. I did not listen to any of the republican convention speakers because I heard enough afterward to know all they did was lie and say mean and hateful things about Senator Obama. Real swell people who don''t care about fixing the mess the country is in, they only like to hear the lies.; Reply to this comment


by vincan-2009 September 7, 2008 11:38 PM EDT: Bringing the tax rate back to what it was before Bush and republicans decided to cut taxes on millionaires and billionaires will be great. It will be the middle class and the hardworking Americans who will get tax cuts from the Obama administration. The giant subsidies for oil companies will come to an end. Once Obama gets in there and gets things Bush has messed up straightened out, there will be a lot of ways Obama can improve things for all Americans. All McCain, the multi-millionaire, wants to do is make sure nothing gets any funding. He is the most miserly man I have ever seen.; Reply to this comment


by realidad-2009 September 7, 2008 1:01 PM EDT: September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments. At the time, nearly 65% of people polled in a CNN poll indicted that "things are going either moderately badly or very badly in Iraq.

May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

A Military Hero, or McBush with 95% Bush Vote in Congress?
McCain "Supports Bush/Cheney Iraq War of Choice and Continued Oil Occupation... For Next 100 Years if Needed For Victory"!

McCain Does Not Support American Soldiers and Their Families.... Only Himself!
I saw a lot of Old VFW Codgers... none young Iraq Veterans?; Reply to this comment


by blueskypie September 7, 2008 5:21 AM EDT: trying to divide up the races, obama is half white so he got both black and white. These people cannot tell how many blacks vs. Whites watched, don''t fall for the spin, 4 more years of Bush McCain, 4 more of the same.; Reply to this comment


by puma2012 September 7, 2008 5:16 AM EDT: The O''Man''s campaign is dead, it just hasn''t started to stink yet. The DNC made a huge mistake when they crowned this clown king of the Democratic party. We can try again in 2012.; Reply to this comment


by semperfi2008 September 7, 2008 5:08 AM EDT: Looks like the "messiah" is angry because he lost the spotlight to McCain and Palin. That''s ok, he can take all the money his followers raised for him and retire in style in the Bahamas. That might take some of the sniffles away. Poor guy.; Reply to this comment


by DCropp September 7, 2008 3:32 AM EDT: CBS needs to check the numbers posted by PBS. PBS posted 0.5 million more viewers watched Obama than McCain.

When that''s combined with the other networks, it''s a tie.; Reply to this comment


by djbjustice September 7, 2008 2:51 AM EDT: Obama opposers say he has done nothing, but he has introduced many, many, bills. Just google Bills introduced by Barack Obama. American government needs to woo companies to stay home, because other governments are wooing them away. Manufacturing is particularly important and brings more revenue than any other sector. Yet under GW Bush, manufacturing jobs in America have decreased by the millions, and nothing is even being said about it by the GOP. Palin reform? No abortion even when rape has occured, no Global warming, no ANWR, no to Polar Bears. Old news, again, not reform.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/?&Db=d109&querybd=@FIELD(FLD003+@4((@1(Sen Obama Barack)) 01763)); Reply to this comment