Despite the technical difficulties plaguing the “Spaces” conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, millions of viewers tuned in, prompting a question about the viability of live interviews — and future presidential debates — taking place on social media.
What Happened: Benzinga asked readers about the potential of X Spaces: "Should all interviews and debates happen on X Spaces?"
The results were:
- Yes: 42.9%
- No: 34.6%
- I Don't Care: 22.6%
None of the three answers received over 50% in the poll, but it was yes that came away as the clear winner with 42.9% of the result.
This means that Beniznga readers appear to be interested in future interviews and debates happening on X.
The Musk/Trump interview — which took place about three months before the 2024 presidential election — spanned a variety of topics: electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, politics, immigration and Russia.
Millions of listeners tuned into the three-hour conversation. At the time of writing, the Spaces has 28.5 million listeners and the post on X has been seen 267 million times.
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Why It's Important: The conversation with Trump and Musk was not the first 2024 election-themed Spaces event.
Musk previously hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who used the platform to announce his entry into the 2024 presidential race.
Like the Trump event, it was also marred by glitches and delays.
Musk has since invited Vice President Kamala Harris to interview on the platform as well.
"Happy to host Kamala on X Spaces too," Musk said.
Harris' campaign team seemed to deny the invite with a response.
"Trump's entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024," the KamalaHQ account on X said.
Many X users have said that there should be a presidential debate held on the social media site, rather than on a traditional television network where there could be bias and hidden agendas (X-owner Musk is a major Trump donor and supporter).
Trump and Harris have agreed to a presidential debate with Walt Disney Company DIS owned ABC on Sept. 10. Trump was hesitant to accept this media outlet as he has a pending lawsuit with the media company and believes he will be treated unfairly.
NewsNation, which is a unit of Nexstar Media Group NXST, has pitched hosting a debate that would come from a non-partisan media company.
The first 2024 presidential debate was watched by 47.9 million people and set records for CNN. Viewership for the debate was down from the first debates of the 2016 and 2020 elections.
While some candidates may be against doing interviews or debates on X, the social media platform could represent one of the future mediums of politicians to connect with potential voters.
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Image: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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