ABC News Posts Solid Ratings for New Hampshire's GOP Presidential Debate

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ABC News' New Hampshire debate

ABC News hosted another Republican presidential debate on Saturday evening, drawing good ratings against competition from NBC's playoff football offerings.

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The Your Voice, Your Vote special in New Hampshire, hosted by George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer, attracted 6.3 million total viewers from 9-11 p.m. ET/6-8 p.m. PT. That's the third-highest viewership number behind ABC News' December special from Des Moines, Iowa, which averaged 7.6 million viewers, and Fox News Channel's telecast that same month, which lured 6.7 million.

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Among adults 18-49, Saturday's debate topped Fox News' Dec. 15 telecast (1.4 million vs. 1.3 million). Thus far, ABC has the two highest-rated debates of the campaign season in the key demo. To note, the debate averaged 1.7 million among adults 25-54, the core news demo; that mark is roughly tied for third with Fox News' September debate among all cable/broadcast televised specials so far.

Participants included presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. The candidates also took part in a Meet the Press debate Sunday morning.

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ABC News, Yahoo News and WMUR-TV teamed up to host the presidential debate, which took place four days after the Iowa caucuses -- of which Romney was the victor. The debate took place at Saint Anelm College and was also streamed on ABCNews.com and Yahoo.