A month after helping Rumble hit an all-time peak viewership record, the GOP Primary Debates returned for a second round, continuing on its merry ways. While not as popular as the inaugural session, this stream ended up with the best numbers since that balmy summer day in late August.
During a sometimes unruly to and fro at their party's second 2024 presidential primary debate on Wednesday, the seven Republicans aimed to convince voters that they could be viable alternatives to frontrunner Donald Trump. The former President of the United States chose to skip the Simi Valley, California, event just like he did during the first round last month.
The live broadcast of the second Republican Presidential Primary Debate gathered 273K Peak Viewers over an airtime of two hours and 40 minutes. It also helped the platform reach a month-long high of 482K PV, the highest for a single day since the first round of the debate on August 24. Incidentally, last month's stream was also the Rumble record for peak concurrent viewership registered on any day.
Yesterday's debate witnessed North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, US Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former US Vice President Mike Pence put across their points ahead at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. As per many reports, it was Haley who starred once again, coming across as clear, concise, and owning the stage when explaining the worth of their candidature. It was a similar performance to the first debate, and most importantly, she appeared as the only candidate to crisply communicate how she would help the middle class.
The second Fox News Republican Presidential Primary Debate on the GOP channel on the GOP channel also hit 508K Hours Watched and 190K Average Viewers, proving why the platform enjoys the reputation for being a hotbed for political, religious, and corporate-leaning content creators and channels. It also has to be pointed out once again that Rumble's ToS are not as strict as Twitch's when it comes to the kind of content that can be aired, which has only led to a proliferation of far-right channels and religious channels.
Getting back to the debate, there was quite a tense moment at the end when moderator Dana Perino asked the candidates who should drop off as the field needs to narrow down if anyone must retain hopes of beating Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
Asking the seven hopefuls in attendance to write down the name of a rival to be eliminated from the running, she said:
“Which one of you on stage tonight should be voted off the island?”
However, they all refused to answer even as Ron DeSantis called it a disrespectful question. Unsurprisingly, Chris Christie, easily the biggest anti-Trump candidate present, opined:
"I’d vote Donald Trump off the island right now. He needs to be taken out of this process."
It remains to be seen what happens to the candidates and who goes out at the next juncture, but for now, their debates are providing tremendous value to online viewers, especially on Rumble. Fans can also look forward to the next few GOP Primary Debates as the race for the next POTUS hots up.
The last few elections Presidential debates have seen between two and three debate sessions. For the current cycle, two have been completed, and there isn't another scheduled for now. When it comes to the Democratic Primary Debates as well, none have been scheduled so far, with it also not being clear who current POTUS Joe Biden will go toe-to-toe with.
No General Election Debates have also been scheduled so far, although the 2020 cycle saw two sessions: on September 29, 2020, and October 22, 2020. Coming to the grand finale, the 60th quadrennial presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Voters will elect a president and vice president for four years, with the inauguration scheduled for January 20, 2025.
