Posted on 01/29/2016 3:58:29 PM PST by Kaslin
That headline is technically accurate: Last night's Trump-free Fox News forum pulled in roughly 12-13 million viewers, better than the 11 million or so who watched the Fox Business debate earlier this month, at which The Donald stood center stage. Trump out, ratings up! Well, sort of. The Des Moines debate was still the second-least watched GOP debate of the cycle (maybe third-least, including online live streams), and many Trump fans -- suddenly highly interested in nuance in context -- are pointing out that the lowest-rated one aired on FBN, which has a smaller footprint than Fox News or CNN nationwide. True enough, although FBN's November debate rated higher than three others, suggesting that viewership for these events has declined over time, with and without Trump. To wit: The Donald's social media army trying to pit last night's numbers (which dwarfed CNN and MSNBC's combined coverage of the billionaire's counter-programming rally) against Fox's August ratings bonanza, which is a ridiculous comparison. Fox and CNN's first debates garnered truly massive audiences, then each network experienced a drop-off of millions of viewers in its subsequent debate, as did Fox Business. TV Line probably has the most evenhanded headline I've seen, characterizing the ratings as "steady' in Trump's absence. The Trump campaign hilariously predicted that just "one or two million" Americans would tune into last night's proceedings. Oops. What's undoubtedly clear is that the current cycle's Republican debates are attracting much more attention than they did in 2012:
More context: In 2012, the highest-rated #GOPDebate (ABC NH) drew 7.6 mil viewers.
Without Trump on stage, ~12 mil watched last night.— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 29, 2016
Lowest-rated #GOPDebate (1/14 on FBN) still beat 3 of the 4 Dem debates -- two of which aired on broadcast nets: pic.twitter.com/cz10UMUQch— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 29, 2016
The debate best both CNN and MSNBC carrying Trump by about 4:1.
I thought a Trump would draw more.
I also note how Megyn Kelly’s new hair-do looks a lot like Trump’s.
Going for the Claire Underwood look it would seem.
Funny - I remember Donnie’s douchebag lackey saying that the debate would be lucky to get two million after “Mr. Trump” decided to puss out like the coward he is. Debate ended up second highest rated program in FNC history.
Donnie and his Chavez-esue variety hour, meanwhile...
She’s trying out the Rachel Maddow look...?
Wow, mainstream, does this mean Trump is over?
“Good grief. Kelly looks ugly on that photo. What happened to her?”
Looks older. Different make up.
They tried to move from the Barbie doll look to a more serious nature look.
I think they put her makeup on with a trowell. Probably had to remove it with a firehouse. At age 45 less is more. :-)
It’s all the bleeding. She bled all the humanity right out of her....
...eyes
What do they call that? FORFEIT.....or win?
Forfeit only has one meaning....LOSERS.
“She’s trying out the Rachel Maddow look...?”
I still say she is unconsciously imitating Trump’s hair-do.
Freudian stuff going on maybe.
We can’t believe a word the government tells us. The media works for the government. So why should we believe they’re telling the truth about viewers?
ouch to Trump since he didn’t get those viewer numbers for his scam show
Funny, her new hairdo reminds me of the Borg Queen...
“Good grief. Kelly looks ugly on that photo. What happened to her?”
Remember The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Well, she doesn’t have a picture. Evil will out.
Funny.
@AJDelgado13 I'll guess it gets 12 million. The recent Dem debate got 10 million. The lowest Rep one was the recent FoxBiz at 11 million.— Eric Sansoni (@JediJones77) January 27, 2016
The debate ratings have been steadily declining. CNN's 2nd debate had millions less than their first and the 2nd FoxBiz debate had a few million less than their first. Trump's absence seemed to have resulted in about 2 million leaving to watch his special on the other channels. I'd say at most another 1.5 million who would've watched anyway just didn't watch TV at all.
She looks like Ivan Drago’s wife in RockyIV...
It’s somewhat easier to tell when Trump is simply making stuff up when he gives us hard numbers that are easily verifiable as nonsense. If only his supporters could detect the rest of his nonsense as easily.
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