Thirty-three million viewers watched Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech on July 28. | Getty
5 numbers that mattered this week
There may have been more disruptions on the floor of Democrats’ national party convention in Philadelphia this week than at the GOP convention in Cleveland the week prior. But Hillary Clinton had nearly twice as many validators speak on her behalf than Donald Trump.
According to data from the C-SPAN Archives, 257 speakers addressed the Democratic convention from the podium over four nights — almost double the number of speakers in Cleveland last week: 131.
(The figures include only those who spoke from the podium, not delegates speaking during roll call votes or people appearing in video presentations.)
A big part of the disparity was the number of sitting lawmakers eager to participate in their respective party’s convention. Though Republicans enjoy a large majority in the House, just 10 sitting members of Congress addressed the GOP convention last week, according to the C-SPAN Archives, compared to 52 Democrats.
And out of the 54 Republican senators, just 14 spoke in Cleveland. That compares to 21 sitting senators who spoke in Philadelphia — including presidential runner-up Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
There’s good news and bad news for Clinton and Democrats in the television ratings for their convention.
The good news: On average across the four nights, more viewers watched the Democratic convention in Philadelphia than the Republican convention in Cleveland.
But for the presidential acceptance speeches, Trump remained the bigger draw, though not by much. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 34.9 million Americans watched Trump’s acceptance speech, compared to 33.3 million for Clinton’s.
The Democratic convention ran late each of the four nights, according to the Republican National Committee, and Republicans are crying media bias.
The broadcast TV networks — which are declining in importance and viewership compared to their cable counterparts — allotted an hour each night to the parties: 10 to 11 p.m.
But prior to Thursday night’s finale, the Republican National Committee pointed to an imbalance: The Democratic convention routinely ran overtime, and the networks stuck with it.
Sanders spoke until nearly 11:30 on Monday night. Bill Clinton stretched about 15 minutes over on Tuesday. The president went way over, about 45 minutes, on Wednesday.
In comparison, the TV networks bailed on the first night of the GOP convention right at 11 p.m. — after Melania Trump’s speech, but before freshman Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, considered a rising star in the party. The convention wrapped up on time on Tuesday night. And Pence only went over by about 15 minutes on Wednesday.
Both Trump and Clinton gave long speeches on Thursday nights that extended way past the broadcast windows, but the networks stuck with both.
The RNC didn’t reply to a request for more information. But a blog post published Thursday on their website outlined what the committee called “unequal” coverage by the broadcast networks. A tag on the post at the bottom reads “Liberal media bias.”
Democrats were criticized early during their convention this week for not mentioning the Islamic State, but data from the C-SPAN Archives revealed that ISIL was mentioned more times in Philadelphia than Cleveland — 15 to 13.
ISIL was mentioned twice at the Democratic convention by Marine Gen. John Allen (Ret.) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). A number of speakers mentioned ISIL once, including President Barack Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
The only speaker to mention the Islamic State more than once at the GOP convention was Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Trump himself didn’t mention ISIL, according to the C-SPAN Archives — though his son, Donald Trump, Jr., did.
This week brought a renewed focus on Pennsylvania — a state Republicans haven’t won since 1988.
But that attention is for good reason: The Clinton campaign views Pennsylvania as an emerging battleground, adding the state to its television ad campaign this month. Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, are on day two of a bus tour of the state on Saturday.
The public polling, on the other hand, tells a different story. A Suffolk University poll taken over the first three days of the convention gave Clinton a 9-point lead in the state. And of the five most-recent polls that comprise POLITICO’s Battleground States polling average, Clinton has an advantage of 9 points or greater in four of them.
But the fifth — a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in late June or early July — shows Trump leading Clinton by 2 points.
For now, putting these polls together in an average is probably the best course. And while it’s telling that the Clinton campaign is up on the air in Pennsylvania, even the most alarmist of Clinton surrogates likes her chances in the state.
“The question is, can Trump hold the independent and moderate Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs, the Pittsburgh suburbs and the Harrisburg suburbs?” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said at a POLITICO event in Philadelphia this week. “I don’t think he can.”
Clinton’s greatest asset in Pennsylvania is actually the incumbent president, Rendell added: “President Obama interestingly in [2012] won Philadelphia by 50,000 votes more than he won it in ’08. That’s one of the few areas of the country where he saw that. He carried Philadelphia by a 468,000 vote margin. If you get that margin, it’s almost game over in Pennsylvania. Can he do that again? I think the Clinton campaign is well organized, but I think whether he’ll be able to do it again depends on one person: Barack Obama.”
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