The 3rd night of the Republican National Convention seemed to be a little short on star power. The event featured speeches a number of different figures in Trump world including his daughter in law he just recently realized existed and departing adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Of course, the 3rd night of both the DNC and the RNC featured speeches by the party’s Vice Presidents. Kamala Harris’s oration was praised on both sides of the aisle. Mike Pence’s speech, on the other hand, was long and boring.
The event also had the opportunity to pick up a number of new viewers as NBA players chose not to play that nights slate of game. There were also a number of cancelled Major League Baseball games.
The people who would have been watching those sporting events, though, probably didn’t tune into the RNC. Ratings typically go up over the course of a convention week. But night 3 of the GOP event saw a 2 million viewer of 13% drop.
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Night 3:
RNC – 15.8 million viewers
DNC – 22.8 million viewersTrump’s KKK rally is a rating failure! https://t.co/AxSxO5oXuK
— Amy Siskind ðŸ³ï¸â€ðŸŒˆ (@Amy_Siskind) August 27, 2020
This was significantly worse than night 3 of the Democratic National Convention which featured Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Harris. That event drew 22.8 million viewers compared to 15.8 million viewers for night 3 of the RNC.
This is certain to upset Donald Trump who is normally obsessive over ratings. The President referenced TV ratings when asked by the NBA boycott on Thursday.
“I don’t know much about the NBA protest,” he said. “I know their ratings have been very bad.” Trump should probably just focus on the failing ratings of his party’s own production.Â
Asked for his thoughts on NBA players going on strike following yet another police shooting of a black man, Trump says, "I don't know much about the NBA protest. I know their ratings have been very bad." pic.twitter.com/p0OYa1dFrO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 27, 2020
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.