Data presented by Samba TV reveals that 4.1 million US households watched the second GOP debate on September 27th, down 39 per cent from the first debate when 6.6 million US households tuned in.

On average, households watched the second debate for a total of 59 minutes – also down (-24 per cent) from the first debate, which averaged 78 minutes.

Similar to the first debate, more liberal-leaning households (defined as the top 33 per cent of liberal political TV viewers or the top 33 per cent of households who support liberal causes) watched the second debate more than conservative households – by a margin of 68 per cent. Perhaps this was again impacted by Donald Trump skipping the debate.

Though more defined liberals watched vs conservatives, conservative households did, however spend 3 more minutes on average watching the GOP debate.

Older households over-indexed on viewership of the debate, while younger audiences under-indexed. The strongest over indexes were among households A65-74 (+22 per cent) and 75+ (+38 per cent), while Gen Z, millennial, and even Gen X households all under-indexed.

Looking at some key states, viewership indexes compared to the US overall were: Florida +41 per cent, Iowa +21 per cent, South Carolina +20 per cent, Arizona +13 per cent, Nevada +6 per cent, New Hampshire -7 per cent,  North Carolina -12 per cent, Georgia -19 per cent.

The states that over-indexed the highest on viewership were Wyoming, North Dakota, and Florida (+47 per cent, + 42 per cent, and +41 per cent, respectively), while Hawaii and Vermont under-indexed by the highest margins (-48 per cent and -44 per cent).