Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:37 pm
The Fox Business Debate that the Republican candidates loved has delivered an audience that was 2 million people smaller than the first Democratic debate, and the smallest debate audience of the year.
According to TVNewser, “According to Nielsen fast national ratings, the main debate, moderated by FBN’s Maria Bartiromo, Neil Cavuto and WSJ’s Gerard Baker from 9 p.m. ET to 11:15 p.m. ET was watched by 13.5 million total viewers and 3.7 million in the A25-54 demo. That’s down from the most recent debate on FBN rival CNBC, and follows a trend of declining ratings for the debates, which peaked at the start with 24 million on Fox News in August.”
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The novelty of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate is officially gone. The Republican debate audience is 11 million people smaller than when the debates began. Instead of catching fire, and building momentum, the Republican candidates are pushing viewers away. The Republican Party loved the Fox Business debate because the campaigns scrubbed the questions.
Fox Business staged the sort of boring, dull, lifeless debate that the Republican wants to hold. The problem is that viewers don’t want to watch the Republican candidates swat softballs and get challenged on nothing.
In a scheduling blunder, the DNC will stage the second Democratic debate this Saturday night. Yep, the second Democratic debate is not only on the least most watched night in television, but Democrats will competing against the nation’s second most popular televised sport, college football. Comparing the Democratic ratings for the second debate to the last two Republican debates will be an apples and oranges comparison.
What is clear from the data is that the Republican debate audience is shrinking. Republicans appear to have peaked in August when the fascination with Donald Trump was at its height.
The Trump bubble has burst. The viewership is dropping for their debates, as the momentum continues to go in the wrong direction for the Republican Party as the country heads into 2016.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
