Preliminary Ratings Estimate Shows McCain Got More Viewers Than Obama (UPDATE)

Matt Margolis

Recent reports indicated that Sarah Palin drew more viewers for her convention speech than Obama did for his.

Well, now preliminary estimates show that John McCain last may have had more viewers than Barack Obama last week.

Presidential candidate John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention drew more television viewers than his rival Barack Obama attracted at the Democratic party’s event last week, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55 U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary, however, and are subject to change.

This is huge news if it in fact turns out to be true. For one thing, Obama, given his celebrity status and his gushing praise from the left-wing media, got a lot of credit for attracting a historic number of viewers for his speech. Sarah Palin, we know now, topped him, and she’s at the bottom of the GOP ticket. John McCain, who has arguable suffered from an enthusiasm gap this campaign season until recently, was not even expected to match Palin or Obama. If he tops that, that is huge. And when you consider the fact that unlike Obama’s speech, McCain talked specifics, he appealed to the center and not just the base.

It all comes down to a great kickoff for the general election season, and I’m confident McCain/Palin are on the road to victory.

UPDATE: It’s official… McCain defeated Obama in the ratings war.

John McCain has won the ratings race.

The Republican nominee beat Democratic challenger Barack Obama’s record-setting convention speech viewership by 500,000.

McCain’s address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night was seen by about 38.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Obama received 38.4 million.

That means McCain’s speech is now the most-watched in convention history — 41% higher than President Bush’s acceptance speech four years ago, and 1% higher than Obama’s address last week.