--- title: Republican Debate Had Record-Breaking Viewership for CNN description: Nearly 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's prime time GOP debate, breaking viewership records for CNN. canonical: https://time.com/4038905/gop-debate-viewers-cnn/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-17T16:50:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:04.613Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Debate Was CNN's Most Watched Program Ever og:description: Nearly 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's prime time GOP debate, breaking viewership records for CNN. og:url: https://time.com/4038905/gop-debate-viewers-cnn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1cb36cba8817f7/69886406e20a878e88a8d47a/150917_em_gopdebate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 150917_EM_GOPDebate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Debate Was CNN's Most Watched Program Ever twitter:description: Nearly 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's prime time GOP debate, breaking viewership records for CNN. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1cb36cba8817f7/69886406e20a878e88a8d47a/150917_em_gopdebate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republican Debate Was the Most Watched CNN Program Ever  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 4:50 PM UTC  Republican presidential hopefuls (L-R), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee , Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, real estate magnate Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and former CEO Carly Fiorina, listen as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (C) speaks during the Presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015. Republican presidential hopefuls (L-R), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee , Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, real estate magnate Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and former CEO Carly Fiorina, listen as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (C) speaks during the Presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2015.Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 4:50 PM UTC Nearly 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night’s primetime GOP debate, breaking viewership records for host network CNN. In fact, it shattered the records – [according to CNN](http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/17/media/cnn-republican-debate-ratings/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom), the previous record-holder for viewership was a _Larry King Live_ episode from 1993 with Al Gore and Ross Perot debating NAFTA. That episode clocked in at 16.8 million viewers. For an even starker comparison, CNN’s most-watched presidential primary debate before Wednesday was a Democratic debate in 2008, which got just 8.3 million viewers. The CNN debate didn’t quite reach the viewership for the Fox debate in August, which averaged 24 million viewers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4038905/gop-debate-viewers-cnn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4038905/gop-debate-viewers-cnn/"},"headline":"Republican Debate Was the Most Watched CNN Program Ever","datePublished":"2015-09-17T16:50:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:04.613Z","description":"But couldn't quite match viewership of Fox debate","url":"https://time.com/4038905/gop-debate-viewers-cnn/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Television","Republican debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1cb36cba8817f7/69886406e20a878e88a8d47a/150917_em_gopdebate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1cb36cba8817f7/69886406e20a878e88a8d47a/150917_em_gopdebate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"150917_EM_GOPDebate","caption":"150917_EM_GOPDebate","creditText":"Frederic J. 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