Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off tonight at 9 ET/6 PT and if you don’t have cable, don’t worry: You can watch the presidential debate right here at TheWrap.
Will Trump appear presidential? Will Hillary stoop to name calling? Will a surprise guest cause a distraction from the front row? We’ll know all the answers in roughly two hours.
NBC’s Lester Holt will moderate the 90-minute matchup from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Many pundits are predicting that it will attract a record 100 million-plus viewers. The debate will consist of six roughly 15-minute segments on major topics that Holt personally selects.
The debate will be available on pretty much every television channel and streaming platform.
Back on Oct. 22, 2012 — the last presidential debate — Barack Obama and Mitt Romney went toe-to-toe to the tune(-in) of 59.2 million total viewers. That’s a ton of eyeballs, but it was actually the lowest-rated of their three debates.
Four years ago, the debates were simulcast on the most networks ever. This year won’t be any different, though a greater abundance of live streams could mean fewer people watching on TV.
The highest-rated debate so far was on Oct. 28, 1980 when Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan set a still-standing presidential debate record with 80.6 million total viewers. Will the media hype and bizarre circumstances surrounding Clinton vs. Trump lead to a new record? We’ll know on Tuesday, but in the meantime, watch the debate above.