Biden-Sanders Democratic debate watched by 9.9 million on CNN

The Democratic debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was watched by a total of 9.9 million viewers on CNN Sunday night, with an additional 844,000 viewers tuning into Univision, according to Nielsen Media Research. 

The debate moderated by CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper and chief political correspondent Dana Bash, and Univision political correspondent Ilia Calderón, was dominated by questions concerning the coronavirus pandemic gripping the country. 

It also marked the first presidential debate since John Kennedy squared off against Richard Nixon in 1960 where an audience wasn’t present for the proceedings due to the coronavirus precautions.  

The last Democratic debate, which took place before Super Tuesday on Feb. 25, drew 15.3 million viewers on CBS. 

Prior to that, the Feb. 18 Democratic debate from Las Vegas on NBC and MSNBC delivered a record for a Democratic debate, with 19.7 million viewers. The event marked the debate debut of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

The most watched primary debate of all time occurred in 2015 for the GOP debate featuring then-candidate Donald Trump in August of that year, which registered more than 24 million viewers on Fox News. 

Voters go to the polls on Tuesday in four states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Arizona. 

Two states, Louisiana and Georgia, further down the primary calendar have postponed their respective contests amid the spread of the coronavirus.