Donald Trump is about to stay No. 1 in the national media poll.
Mr. Trump’s commanding victory in the first debate, which revolved around Megyn Kelly, a Fox News anchor, and whether he was a misogynist, grabbed more attention than the other presidential debate of this cycle. The reaction generated enough coverage to put his campaign and the Republican Party on the cover of Time magazine.
On the other hand, the rematch between Mr. Trump and Vice President Joe Biden drew fewer eyeballs than the first debate did, and only matched where the race was a month ago. That means neither his standing on the ground nor his approval rating among Americans.
Mr. Trump notched a 6.9 share among viewers aged 18 to 49, down from the 8.0 he garnered from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2. The audience was even smaller than the 5.7 that watched the first debate. At his peak, Mr. Trump was averaging about 7.7 million viewers on Tuesday nights during the primary season.
Mr. Biden continued to outperform Mr. Trump, garnering a 7.1 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic that is considered to be the most important because it includes young people. Mr. Biden’s rating had been flat since the previous debate.
Compared to the previous Republican debate, hosted by Fox News, the Biden-Trump matchup was off by 25 percent among viewers 18 to 49 and even more so among the 25-to-54 demographic.
A notable exception to the downward trend was among conservative voters, where Mr. Trump’s ratings increased by an additional 40 percent.
Overall, the debate averaged about 24 million viewers, down from the previous one’s 30 million. The total fell short of the previous two presidential debates.
