Nielsen: 31.3 million watched Obama’s last State of Union

The Nielsen company says 31.3 million people watched President Barack Obama deliver his last State of the Union, his smallest audience for the annual speech.

His lowest previous was last year's State of the Union, which had 33.3 million viewers.

Nielsen says Obama's ratings peak was his first State of the Union in 2009, which was seen by 52.4 million people. This year's speech was carried live on 12 networks and on tape delay on Univision.

Obama has something in common with his predecessors: the least-watched State of the Union speech by Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton was their last.

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