Fewer than 33.3 million Americans watched President Obama’s State of the Union address on television last night, the lowest turnout since President Clinton’s final State of the Union address in 2000, according to newly released Nielsen ratings.
Viewership for Obama’s State of the Union addresses has been in decline since 2009, when he drew 52.4 million television viewers. 48.0 million watched on television in 2010, 42.8 million in 2011, 37.8 million in 2012 and 33.5 millino in 2013. This year’s speech now replaces last year’s as the second-lowest rated since Nielsen began recording viewership in 1993.
Nielsen’s totals are based off viewership for CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Azteca, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera America, Galavision and Mun2. They do not include digital livestreams.