President Joe Biden’s address to Congress got nearly 24 million less viewers than former President Donald Trump’s lowest-rated State of the Union address.
Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night scored 11.6 million viewers in the 9 p.m. EST hour according to unadjusted affiliate data, Deadline reported Thursday. The speech clocked in at just over an hour and is one of the least-watched in recent history. Once 1.08 million Univision viewers and 884,000 Telemundo viewers are added to the mix of networks including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, his numbers go up to 13.5 million. (RELATED: McConnell Rips Biden’s First 100 Days In Office Before Joint Session Of Congress, Lists Policy Failures)
Biden’s ratings just a fraction of Trump’s.
37.2M – Trump 2020
46.8M – Trump 2019
46M – Trump 2018
48M – Trump 201711.6M – Biden 2021
https://t.co/Pbbmx9MILl— John Ashbrook (@JohnAshbrook) April 29, 2021
In comparison, the speech was down by 49% when compared to Trump’s first speech to the House chamber back on April 30, 2017. That address drew an audience of 48 million when all the reporting networks tallied up their final numbers, the outlet noted. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Breaks Protocol With State Of The Union Introduction)
To put POTUS’ speech last night into further context, Trump’s lowest-rated address drew in 37.2 million viewers just last year. Trump’s ratings numbers during his presidency ranged from 37.2 million in 2020 to 48 million in 2017.