After the presidential debate on September 10 featuring candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, David Muir, the anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight and one of the debate moderators, experienced a decline in his program’s viewership. Reports from Fox News indicate that in the days following the debate—Wednesday through Friday—Muir’s show attracted an average of 6.7 million viewers, down from the 7.6 million viewer average prior to the event.
Despite the dip, Muir’s broadcast continues to lead as the top evening news program. However, the 12 percent decrease in his viewership stands out compared to the more modest reductions observed in the audiences of CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News post-debate.
Criticism has been directed towards Muir and fellow moderator Linsey Davis for their approach to fact-checking during the debate, specifically for challenging Trump several times without similarly scrutinizing Harris. Trump commented on the situation, stating the debate “was one against three,” and criticized Muir, saying he “lost a lot of respect” for the ABC News anchor. “Everyone’s lost respect for him,” he said.
In a subsequent interview, Davis explained her decision to fact-check Trump was influenced by the debate between him and then-President Joe Biden in June, which led to Biden withdrawing from the race. She noted, “People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators.”
A YouGov poll conducted after the debate revealed that 35 percent of Americans felt the moderators were biased against Trump, a sentiment shared by 41 percent of independent voters, a crucial demographic for the November election. Conversely, only two percent of independents believed the moderators were biased against Harris.
