If weren’t for Donald Trump, the Republican National Convention would have ended up a big loser in the ratings game. But the presidential candidate’s July 21 speech was enough to give the RNC a final-night bump over the Democratic National Convention, drawing 34.9 million viewers to his lengthy address compared to the 33.7 million viewers who tuned in for Hillary Clinton’s July 28 speech.
But Twitter clearly preferred the DNC. The Democrats’ convention garnered significantly more tweets each night than the RNC, with Michelle Obama’s July 25 speech becoming the most-tweeted moment from both events.
THR added up the tweets (there were 16.6 million of them) and balloons (200,000 of those) during the back-to-back events to reveal which nights popped with viewers, the emojis that got the most love and other highlights from the political circus.
A version of this story first appeared in the Aug. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
