Fox News’ town hall with former President Donald Trump trounced CNN’s Republican presidential debate Wednesday night.
Trump rejected CNN’s offer to participate in the fifth presidential debate moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, leaving only former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the debate stage. Trump instead participated in an independent town hall that counter-programmed the debate alongside Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier.
The town hall garnered 4.3 million viewers between 9 and 10 p.m., while the CNN debate averaged 2.5 million viewers in the same time span, former CNN host Brian Stelter reported Thursday.
Fox’s town hall with Trump averaged 4.3 million viewers between 9 and 10pm ET last night. CNN’s debate with DeSantis and Haley averaged 2.5 million in the same hour. Both totals will be higher when repeats and streams are counted, but Trump is the clear victor.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 11, 2024
The Wednesday debate earned the lowest number of viewers in comparison to the four previous events. The first Republican debate in August, which aired on Fox News and Fox Business, reeled in 12.8 million viewers, and the second garnered around 9.5 million viewers, airing on Fox News, Fox Business and Univision. The third debate hosted by NBC News raked in 7.5 million, continuing the downward trend. (RELATED: Second GOP Primary Debate Drew Historically Low Ratings Without Trump)
Trump also outperformed the first primary debate, counter-programming the event in a sit-down interview with Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson. The Trump-Carlson interview reeled in more than 239 million views on Carlson’s Twitter account.
The first 2016 presidential debate reached a record 24 million total viewers with Trump in attendance, and the other debates in that election cycle averaged about 15 million viewers, Mediaite reported. The January 28, 2016, debate that Trump boycotted garnered 12.5 million viewers.