What a turn-off! Seedy second presidential debate saw massive DROP in ratings with 18million fewer viewers than the first contest

  • Sunday night's town-hall event between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drew 65.7 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen figures
  • A record-setting  84 million people tuned in on September 26
  • NBC broadcast the first debate, but aired football game on Sunday instead
  • Thousands were evacuated from their homes during Hurricane Matthew
  • Analysts wonder if particularly contentious election has turned people off
  • Survey in July found 59 per cent of Americans felt election fatigue

By Jessica Chia For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:48 EST, 10 October 2016 | Updated: 15:46 EST, 10 October 2016

The second presidential debate on Sunday saw a significant drop in ratings compared to the first one, even though the contentious face-off spurred a record-breaking 17million tweets online.

Sunday night's showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drew about 65.7 million viewers, compared to the 84million people who tuned in on September 26, according to preliminary figures by Nielsen.

Sunday Night Football certainly played a role in the dwindling figures, as did Hurricane Matthew.

But analysts wondered if people had grown weary with the election, which has taken a particularly ugly turn with less than four weeks left until Election Day.

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Sunday night's town-hall event between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drew at 65.7 million viewers, compared to the 84million people who tuned in on September 26

Sunday night's town-hall event between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drew at 65.7 million viewers, compared to the 84million people who tuned in on September 26

A Sunday Night Football game certainly played a role, as did Hurricane Matthew (pictured, Trump)
Analysts wondered if people had grown weary with the election (pictured, Clinton)

A Sunday Night Football game certainly played a role, as did Hurricane Matthew, although analysts wondered if people had grown weary with the election

While conclusive figures will not be released until later Monday, preliminary data shows a 21 per cent drop between the first and second presidential debates.

The first debate broke the previous record of 80.6 million viewers who watched the one and only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. 

Figures from Sunday's showing match the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in 2012 after 67.2 million watched their first debate.  

NBC, which aired the first match up between Clinton and Trump, broadcast a football game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, causing a drop in viewership. 

A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable's ESPN and reached only 8 million people. 

Hurricane Matthew's devastation may have also played a crucial role since thousands were evacuated from their homes in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

But one TV executive offered an alternative theory, telling CNN Money: 'I think people are repulsed by it now.'

Back in July, a Pew Research Center survey found 59per cent of Americans felt exhausted by the election coverage, even among those who didn't follow the news very closely.

Interestingly enough, another survey in June found that 65per cent of registered voters said the campaign was not focused on important policy debates. 

Trump's treatment of women dominated the record-setting 17million Tweets written during the event (pictured, Trump pictured in the 2005 hot mic recording that emerged on Friday)

Trump's treatment of women dominated the record-setting 17million Tweets written during the event (pictured, Trump pictured in the 2005 hot mic recording that emerged on Friday)

Personal attacks were rife in Sundays debate and largely leveled at Clinton by Trump, who turned on the offensive following the release of his 2005 hot mic recording.

Viewers who did watch the debate had plenty to talk about online, with 20 million Facebook users commenting, liking, sharing debate-related posts.

Twitter declared Sunday 'the most tweeted day of the entire 2016 election, with nearly 30 million tweets sent'.

The question of Trump's treatment of women dominated the online conversation on Twitter. 

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