President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address was a demand for Americans to tune out, turn it off, and switch on something else, if they watched it at all.
According to Nielsen numbers, 27.3 million people watched the address on Tuesday night, according to Deadline.
Last year, 38.2 million people watched the message on the 16 networks measured by Nielson, giving Biden a 29 percent reduction for this year’s address.
According to Deadline, the ratings were the lowest for a State of the Union speech in at least 30 years.
Biden himself was the lone competitor in the race to the bottom. His speech to Congress in 2021 received 26.9 million views, although it was not a formal State of the Union address.
According to The Hill, former President Donald Trump garnered 45.6 million viewers in 2018.
An analysis of the ratings for Biden revealed that 73 percent of those watching were 55 and older, 19 percent were between the ages of 35 and 54, and 5 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24.
Fox News was the most popular channel among those viewing the address. It drew 4.69 million viewers, nearly tripling major cable news rival CNN’s 2.4 million. ABC’s coverage got 4.4 million people, while NBC drew 3.8 million, CBS drew 3.64 million, MSNBC drew 3.6 million, and Fox Broadcasting added 1.66 million viewers to the Fox family’s audience.
TV RATINGS: Fox News was the most-watched TV channel for SOTU coverage in total viewers on Tuesday, led by these hours:
1. SOTU w/ @BretBaier @marthamaccallum @brithume @HaroldFordJr
2. @seanhannity
3. @TuckerCarlson https://t.co/CKCbSooij9 pic.twitter.com/nh7pRwnbry— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) February 8, 2023
According to NBC News, Nielsen’s numbers go back to 1993, when former President Bill Clinton drew 66.9 million people.
According to Fox News, David Wilezol, former top copywriter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CEO of the ghostwriting business Seventh Floor Strategies, slammed Biden’s address on Tuesday.
“State of the Union speeches are almost always boring, but hardly ever has a president said less in more than an hour of speaking than Joe Biden did tonight. While packed with a kitchen sink list of so-called accomplishments that may sell politically, this sleepy address lacked any memorable lines or displays of political courage,” Wilezol told the outlet.
“He would also be courageous to tell the American people the truth about the sacrifices that will be necessary to properly confront Chinese aggression rather than pretending to be tough on President Xi. Americans instead were subject to a preview of his presidential campaign that will be memorable to exactly no one,” he said.
President Biden squandered an opportunity tonight.
It was an angry, divisive, and fundamentally dishonest speech. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/57gDxPDq9C
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 8, 2023
Before the speech, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida expressed his desire to tune it out.
“The president talks too long. He’s boring. He talks too long, and he’s boring. Last year’s speech was like an hour? And he’s boring. Like, at least be interesting. So, I’d rather be home,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.