Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

TV ratings for State of the Union drop to 15-year low

SOTU

Mandel Ngan / AP

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in Washington, D.C., as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens in the background.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's State of the Union address drew the second-lowest television viewership in 15 years.

According to Nielsen data, 31.7 million viewers watched Tuesday night's prime-time address on broadcast and cable networks. That's the lowest television viewership for a State of the Union address since President Bill Clinton's final speech to a joint session of Congress in 2000.

The figures do not take into account those who streamed the speech online. The White House says there were 1.2 million views for its own "enhanced" version of the speech, which displayed charts and data about Obama's proposals as the president spoke.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy