Claim: The Democratic National Convention had a low turnout and scattered crowds on night one.
Fact: The clip showed the start of the convention when people were still arriving and the crowd was still filling in. Clips from later that night show a full arena.
On 19 August 2024, X (formerly Twitter) account Clandestine posted a video (archive) from the Democratic National Convention. The clip showed a scant crowd cheering as Minyon Moore, Permanent Chair of the Democratic National Convention, and Jaime Harrison, current Chair of the Democratic National Committee spoke onstage. The post is captioned:
“The DNC is nearly empty.
The crowd is scattered and uninspired.
The speakers are incompetent and cringy.
The difference between the RNC and DNC is apparent.
All the internet and media hype was fake.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first attempted to ascertain what moment of the convention the clip was taken from. According to the DNC’s official schedule speakers Minyon Moore and Jaime Harrison were the first to take to the stage, indicating that the clip was taken from the start of the night at 6:30 pm. This was further confirmed when watching uninterrupted recorded coverage of the entire event. In the viral clip, Harrison can be heard saying, “This is because the Democratic party is and always will be for the people”, which we matched in C-SPAN’s coverage of the event at 04:17. This speech was so early into the event that it took place before many ceremonial instances that typically occur in American events such as the recitation of the pledge of allegiance, and the national anthem.
Additionally, footage from later in the event shows the crowd size increasing and the stadium filling in, as noted by many viewers and news outlets. This photo taken by Reuters, shows a full stadium by the time presidential nominee Kamala Harris took to the stage at 9 pm on day one of the DNC:
[Image credit: Reuters]
Users posted photos and clips from different moments at the event, all showing the stadium was filled later in the evening. X user Art Candee posted clips of the crowds cheering when Hillary Clinton took to the stage, and another X user, Fred Wellman, posted an image of an animated and full stadium as President of the United Auto Workers Sean Fain spoke.
[Image credit: X user Fred Wellman]
Users also posted specifically to dispute the claim that crowds had been added in artificially such as this Facebook user who posted images of his television screen during the live DNC coverage, captioning it, “I took these pics from my TV watching the DNC convention PACKED FULL with Harris speaking.” Another Facebook user also posted an image of the packed stadium writing, “I never believe those 1 photo 1 story post.”
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim on X here and here.
The claim was also shared on Facebook here, here and here.
Conclusion: The claim that the Democratic National Convention experienced a low crowd turnout on night one is false. The viral images are from the start of the evening when people were still arriving. As the evening went on, the stadium filled up as evidenced by recorded footage and photos of the convention.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com
Cover photo credits: Reuters