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59.2 Million Tuned In To Monday's Debate, Smallest Of The Audiences : The Two-Way There were 67.2 million viewers for the candidates' Oct. 3 faceoff and 65.6 for the debate on Oct. 16. One reason for the decline on Monday: Major League Baseball and the National Football League were also on the air Monday night.
The Two-Way

The Two-Way

The Two-Way

59.2 Million Tuned In To Monday's Debate, Smallest Of The Audiences

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Watch the wash or watch the debate? This woman was at a laundromat in Manhattan during Monday's debate. Timothy A. Clary /AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Timothy A. Clary /AFP/Getty Images

Watch the wash or watch the debate? This woman was at a laundromat in Manhattan during Monday's debate.

Timothy A. Clary /AFP/Getty Images

An estimated 59.2 million people tuned in Monday night to watch President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in their third and final debate before the Nov. 6 election, The Nielsen Company reports.

That compares with 67.2 million viewers for the candidates' Oct. 3 faceoff and 65.6 for the debate on Oct. 16.

Nielsen notes that Monday's debate "was up against two sporting events — Monday Night Football on ESPN, which had 10.7 million people tuning in and Game 7 of [baseball's National League championship series] on FOX, which had 8.1 million people watching."

The Two-Way

The Two-Way