Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — More than 84 million people watched Monday’s presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, topping the all-time record of 80.6 million set back in 1980, when Jimmy Carter squared off against Ronald Reagan, according to Nielsen.
Overall, 13 networks aired Monday’s event, whose audience broke a 36-year watermark for the presidential debates.
The debate drove traffic online as well, with 17.1 million Twitter interactions from 2.7 million people in the U.S. related to the “Presidential Debate,” Nielsen said.
The last round of debates, between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, topped out at 67.2 million viewers.
Other notable draws include the 1992 debates between Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot, which drew a peak audience of nearly 70 million viewers.
Monday’s debate audience put the presidential race’s signature event in a league with the most-watched event on television.
With more than 114 million viewers, Superbowl 50’s match-up last year between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks was the most watched event in U.S. television history, according to Nielsen data.
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