Bill Mitchell noted on Twitter how former President Donald Trump has drawn a small crowd. He wrote:
“Since DeSantis announced, Trump has basically curled up into a ball in the corner.
I think his tiny crowd and bad ratings at the Hannity town hall bummed him out.
Since DeSantis announced, Trump has done one lame event. DeSantis has done 14!
Since DeSantis announced, Trump has basically curled up into a ball in the corner.
I think his tiny crowd and bad ratings at the Hannity town hall bummed him out.
Since DeSantis announced, Trump has done one lame event. DeSantis has done 14! pic.twitter.com/SZCQMpBD6K
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) June 3, 2023
It has been noted that in the lead-up to the watershed 2016 election, former President Donald Trump drove cable news networks to record ratings. At least early on, the 2024 election cycle is shaping up differently.
It is noted that Trump’s latest “town hall” appearance on Fox News Thursday averaged only 2.78 million viewers, down more than half a million viewers from a similar appearance on cable-news rival CNN three weeks earlier.
According to Nielsen figures reported by Mediaite, the Fox News town hall, moderated by Sean Hannity, averaged 320,000 viewers in the core 25-54 demo, less than half of the 781,000 demo viewers averaged for the May 10 CNN primetime event.
The former president has been steadily trending downward over the years.
As Mediaite noted, Trump’s previous six town hall events on Fox News delivered respective audiences of 5.1 million, 4.4 million, 4.2 million, 3.8 million, 3.5 million and 3.2 million viewers. Over at CNN, meanwhile, no one seems to be boasting.
On Friday, The Atlantic posted a damning portrait of CNN chief Chris Licht, who in addition to facing cratering ratings is now dealing with a serious newsroom morale problem in the wake of the Trump’s May appearance.
