TELEVISED political debates continue to draw record-breaking audiences – in what’s shaping up as the most unpredictable presidential race in recent memory.

Monday’s Democratic debate in South Carolina, which turned into a verbal slugfest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, snared 4.9 million viewers on CNN – the biggest cable audience to ever watch a primary debate.

That shattered the previous cable record of nearly 4.5 million viewers for last Nov. 28’s GOP debate, also on CNN.

Viewership for the debates has grown as a clear-cut front-runner has yet to emerge on either the Republican or Democratic side.

On Jan. 5, ABC aired back-to-back coverage of the Democratic and GOP presidential debates prior to the New Hampshire primary.

Those debates, anchored by Charlie Gibson, averaged 8.4 million viewers – the biggest audience to watch a debate this campaign season.

CNN also holds the record for the third-most-watched primary debate on cable – the Democratic debate in Nevada, which drew 4 million viewers last Nov. 15.

Fox News Channel averaged 3.7 million viewers for the Jan. 10 GOP South Carolina debate.