Kaine and Pence draw 37 million viewers, the smallest audience for a vice presidential debate since 2000
NEW YORK _ The lone showdown between Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia attracted an average audience of 37 million viewers Tuesday, making it the smallest audience for a vice presidential debate since 2000.
The total for the four major broadcast networks, PBS and four cable news channels that reported data comes to 37 million viewers. An official total will be issued by Nielsen later Wednesday.
Pence, the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and Tim Kaine, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's number two, were not expected to be the same ratings draw as the top of the ticket.
The Sept. 26 meeting between Trump and Clinton had an average audience of 84 million viewers, a record for a presidential debate.
The most-watched vice presidential debate ever was between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign, which had an average audience of 69.9 million viewers.
_Los Angeles Times
