According to Nielsen Media Research on the 11th, the average number of viewers for the first hour of former President Trump’s Iowa town hall, which was broadcast on Fox News from 9 p.m. Eastern time the previous day, was 4.3 million. This figure is almost double the number of the 5th Republican presidential primary debate broadcast by CNN at the same time.
The primary debate between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley attracted an average of 2.5 million viewers at the same time. The number of viewers, 2.5 million, is more than twice the average viewership of CNN’s prime time, but it is only 60% of the 4 million viewers during the fourth debate hosted by News Nation last month, political media outlet The Hill pointed out.
The Republican Party’s first and second presidential primary debates attracted 12.8 million and 9 million viewers, respectively, and the third debate was also watched by 7 million people. The Hill pointed out, “These numbers show that former President Trump still exerts enormous influence on national broadcasts.” In fact, former President Trump’s town hall hosted by CNN last year also recorded an average of 3 million viewers. This is CNN’s own highest record last year.
Former President Trump said at a town hall the day before that he had already identified his vice-presidential candidate but refused to reveal the name. Fox News has had an uneasy relationship with former President Trump after demanding a large amount of compensation for broadcasting his claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. It has been almost two years since former President Trump appeared on Fox News in April 2022.
Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis and former Ambassador Haley exchanged sharp words during the primary debate the day before, accusing each other of being liars.
Former Ambassador Haley, who is gaining momentum following the withdrawal of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has criticized former President Trump, accused former Ambassador DeSantis of lying frequently.
Governor DeSantis compared former Ambassador Haley to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, and criticized her as a ‘politician who only talks about her mouth.’