CNN’s DeSantis Town Hall Was a Viewership Flop

The National Pulse ^ | 12/15/2023 | WILLIAM UPTON

[SoConPubbie]

This past Tuesday’s CNN Iowa town hall event with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did little to boost the corporate news networks ratings. According to newly released viewership numbers, DeSantis drew just 622,000 viewers in the 9:00pm time-slot. Fox News’s Sean Hannity, also airing in the 9:00pm slot drew 2.1 million viewers the same night. The entirety of the prime time line up for MSNBC and Fox News significantly outperformed the DeSantis town hall, with the Florida Governor drawing about half the viewers as the far-left conspiracy theorist Joy Reid.

The DeSantis campaign has been plagued by an inability to connect with voters, with polls showing the Florida Republican running far behind the 2024 Republican presidential nomination front-runner Donald Trump. An aversion to engagement with hostile media has only compounded DeSantis’s problems, costing the Governor valuable air-time early on in the Republican primary. Despite a course correction on the candidate’s media engagement, it appears to be too-little-too-late with voters tuning out as former President Donald Trump’s primary victory appears all-but-certain.

In an effort to astroturf the appearance of voter interest, the DeSantis campaign has attempted to use increasingly smaller venues to disguise crowd sizes – among other campaign tricks. The National Pulse previously reported the Florida Governor’s campaign used ‘canned’ crowd audio in a 30-second ad-spot featuring Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. The clips featuring Govs. DeSantis and Reynolds in the video were pulled from the Iowa endorsement event, which appears to only have attracted about 150 people. In the ad, however, the audio alludes to far larger and enthused crowd one might see at a full-scale campaign rally.

[cgbg]

Sending the Iowa governor to campaign in New Hampshire is hilarious—DeSantis should claw back every nickel paid to his advisors.

They are turning him into a laughingstock.

[BlueStateRightist]

To be fair, a Republican trying to get attention on CNN is akin to the Yankees playing at Fenway Park.

[going hot]

Yet if trump were to get interviewed on CNN, they would have the record breaking ratings. Go figure.

[wildcard_redneck]

Could it be because the Republican base voters are aware that DeSantis is in the employ of the GOPe and the Big $ Men who have been betraying us for 60 years?

[SoConPubbie]

To be fair, a Republican trying to get attention on CNN is akin to the Yankees playing at Fenway Park.

Actually, you could not be more wrong!

Hearken back to the recent President Trump CNN Townhall and then re-calibrate your statement.

A REAL Republic will garner much, MUCH attention whereever he goes.

These pretenders like DeSantis, Haley Christey, et. all, not so much.

[William of Barsoom]

Americans are Figuring It Out. (at last)

...and the Ds are starting to run skeered.

Good.

[conservative98]

[backpacker_c]

🤣

I was looking for the overnight numbers, and never found them and gave up....

DESANCTIMONIOUS WILL BE THE NEXT ... emm... waste management engineer?

[KosmicKitty]

It’s still more than Anderson Cooper. LOL

[Avalon Memories]

DeSantis should claw back every nickel paid to his advisors.

He doesn't need to take their advice. Ultimately the decisions are his to make.

[MinorityRepublican]

DESANCTIMONIOUS WILL BE THE NEXT ... emm... waste management engineer?

Save the name-calling for the Democrats.

We'll ride and die with Trump.

It will still be a challenge for him to win the general election. Even if he wins, he'll be a lame duck immediately for the entire term.

[bankwalker]

Trump will be the republican nominee.

The future of our nation will depend on who is selected to be his running mate.

There is at least one that will ensure a humiliating landslide loss for him.

I pray that he chooses wisely.

[going hot]

Yeah, he should win the presidency, then, because he is lame duck, he should lay on his back and pee into the air.

he is powerless to do anything, because he is a lame duck.

[MinorityRepublican]

The future of our nation will depend on who is selected to be his running mate.

VPs tend to be overrated. Yes, Biden was a former VP and now he's the POTUS.

More often you get somebody like Harris, Gore, Quayle or Pence.

A nobody.

[dforest]

lol

[bankwalker]

read the line after that ...

[MinorityRepublican]

Four sitting vice presidents have been elected president: John Adams in 1796, Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Martin Van Buren in 1836, and George H. W. Bush in 1988. Likewise, two former vice presidents have won the presidency, Richard Nixon in 1968 and Joe Biden in 2020

[bankwalker]

did you go back and read the third line of my post?

you entirely missed my point ...

[enumerated]

So no POTUS should ever bother to seek re-election, because they will only be a lame duck? Duh.