Biden town hall draws nearly 1 million more viewers than Trump
The Nielsel numbers don't include live streams to cell phones and other devices.
Joe Biden’s live town hall with ABC News Thursday night was watched by nearly one million more television viewers than those who tuned-in for President Donad Trump’s event.
According to Nielsen ratings, Biden’s 90-minute discussion averaged 14.1 million viewers, compared to 13.5 million for Trump’s town hall on NBC, The Washington Post reports.
The primetime town halls were scheduled after Trump pulled out of the presidential debate once it was switched to a virtual format following his positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
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The Nielsel numbers don’t include live streams to cell phones and other devices, but when it comes to the two networks’ YouTube channels, Biden’s town hall received 507,445 viewers compared to Trump’s 153,660, according to Newsweek.
theGRIO previously reported… At his town hall event Thursday night, Biden was asked by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos if it was a mistake to support the controversial 1994 crime bill, and he replied, “Yes, it was. But here’s where the mistake came. The mistake came in terms of what the states did locally.”
Biden noted that while the federal government lowered mandatory minimums and a statute he called “same crime, same time,” those elements applied mostly to federal offenses. States retained their own sentencing power and ability to build more prisons, which they did.
Read More: Joe Biden calls crime bill a ‘mistake’ during town hall
The former vice president said the ’94 crime bill was created after a spike in crime in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
Biden also explained that, at the time, the crime bill was supported by the Congressional Black Caucus and Black mayors across the nation. However, he said, “things have changed drastically,” noting that violent crime has dropped dramatically, and racial justice issues in America are different now than at that period.
He now contends that no one should serve time in prison for drug possession, and the country instead should be funding rehabilitation centers.
Biden’s The Vice President and the People town hall is ABC’s most-watched prime-time telecast since the Oscars in February, according to the report.
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