There are many possibilities as to why the view count decreased on the final day of the convention. Some of my ideas as to why the viewers tuned out are on opposite ends of the spectrum: Assurance of presidential re-election or a sign of hopelessness.
Both ideas have rationale. On the side of hopelessness, President Obama failed to come through on some campaign promises, like closing Guantanamo Bay, creating a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners and repeal the Bush tax cuts for incomes > $250,000. In regards to potential confidence, President Obama succeeded in providing more opportunities to small businesses, began pulling brigades out of Iraq and ended the use of torture. For more promises which were followed through on and broken, visit this page at PolitiFact.com
It will be truly interesting to see what the decrease in views of the President's speech pans out to mean come election time. Do you have an opinion on what the decrease of views may be because of? Let me know in the comment section below!
Andrew, I think you chose a very interesting topic to bring up. I think that the numbers were down from the '08 election because the country was at a more pivotal time when President Obama was seeking election for his first term. As a whole, the country was fed up with President Bush and the state of our economy. I believe more people were in search for some sort of change and looked wherever they could for a candidate with a fresh platform. This year the election has not captured the same "magic" that Obama fed off in 2008. Also, I think it's interesting to note that voter turnout has been an issue in recent years. Not only are people shying away from watching the speeches of candidates, but they aren't taking the time to be a part of our democracy! It will be interesting to see how many people vote in the election and to see if it correlates to the number of viewers during the conventions. I would predict an increase of voter turnout in November.
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