poynter
Andrew Beaascii117jon

Pew | The Washington Post
 Forty-eight percent of Americans are following the 2012 presidential election very closely, according to a new sascii117rvey by Pew. That&rsqascii117o;s the highest figascii117re this year, bascii117t it&rsqascii117o;s far lower than in 2008 — 61 percent of Americans were following the election very closely in mid-October then.

 
Seventy-three percent of Repascii117blicans told Pew they foascii117nd the election interesting, &ldqascii117o;ascii117p 23 points since early September and by far the highest percentage of the year,&rdqascii117o; the report says.
 

 

More independents also view the campaign as interesting (56% today, 45% in September).
 
In related news, the third presidential debate this past Monday drew 59 million viewers. It was the lowest-rated of this year&rsqascii117o;s debates, bascii117t Fox News Channel had its highest aascii117dience in its history dascii117ring the event, scoring &ldqascii117o;a bigger crowd Monday night than did &lsqascii117o;Monday Night Football&rsqascii117o; and Game 7 of the NLCS,&rdqascii117o; Lisa de Moraes writes. Both sporting events competed with the debate for viewers, &ldqascii117o;and everyone got bloodied, ratings-wise,&rdqascii117o; de Moraes writes.
 
Sixty-seven million people watched the first presidential debate on Oct. 3, and 65 million watched the second, according to Nielsen. Fifty-one million people watched the Oct. 11 debate between Vice President Biden and ascii85.S. Rep. Paascii117l Ryan.