Yuge: Trumpless Debate Earns Higher Ratings Than Last GOP Debate That Included Trump

Townhall.com ^ | January 29, 2016 | Guy Benson

[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

And far more eyeballs than the Democrats, who've enjoyed the benefit of two debates televised on over-the-air broadcast networks:

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

Good work, DNC.  The first Republican broadcast network debate of the 2016 race will air next Saturday night on ABC, ahead of the New Hampshire primary.  As I mentioned above, it was this debate (scheduled on the same night and on the same network) that pulled in the biggest rating of 2012.  Expect a big viewership surge this year, as well -- due to added interest after actual voting has begun, the wide accessibility its over-the-air network host, and, yes, the return of Donald Trump.  Assuming he doesn't throw another  spiteful conniption fit and run away again, that is.   I'll leave you with this:

Luntz Focus Group Has Overwhelming Reaction to Trump Skipping GOP

[freespirit2012]

and the people who turned into the debate were doing so because they thought Trump might still show up and wanted to hear what the other candidates said about Trump...

[ICCtheWay]

Total FALSE Propaganda... Industry reports about 1/2 of viewers than the first one ... B.S. Post

[dschapin]

I am not posting a lie. You are trying to compare last nights debate ratings to the first debate of the season which had the highest ratings by far. The ratings have been steadily dropping ever since then with the previous debate having the lowest ratings yet. This debate had slightly higher ratings than the previous debate which had included Donald Trump.

[COBOL2Java]

She looks like Ivan Drago's wife in RockyIV...

Pretty good!

[digger48]

You could slap down a lot of wallpaper paste with those false eyelashes she was wearing.

[TornadoAlley3]

Viewers do not equal voters.

[Kaslin]

Of course you Trump bots believe anything. I wouldn’t expect anything different

[EEGator]

Here she is smashed in an LA park...

[silverleaf]

Probably have alf the people watching wanted to see what they’d say about Trump

[Kaslin]

It’s her new hairstyle. It’s not becoming to her.

[Kaslin]

Stop assuming that I do.

[ScottWalkerForPresident2016]

Fox Business Network is a premium channel that is on over 20,000,000 less U.S. televisions than Fox News Channel, and its debate just barely lost out to last night's debate.

Shame something that obvious even needs to be typed.

[Kaslin]

I don’t like it. It’s very unbecoming to her.

[Kaslin]

I am?? Wow that’s news to me.

[fireman15]

The debate best both CNN and MSNBC carrying Trump by about 4:1.

I thought a Trump would draw more.

CNN and MSNBC kept cutting away from the covereage of the event so their talking heads could expound on what they thought of the event. CNN even cut off the main speaker Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class John Wayne Walding so we could have the pleasure of listening to Bob Beckel trash talk Trump. That is why I and most others watched most of the the event on CSPAN. If the true number of viewers actually matters to you... you will have to see if there are any numbers released by CSPAN.

[FreeReign]

12.5 million watched the debate. 1.8 million watched the Trump thing.

I'm guess that Fox lost about 15% of its audience.

That's not a lot of people when one considers that Trump is supposed to be the front runner with a bunch of dedicated followers.

[Georgia Girl 2]

LOL!

[FreeReign]

The debate best both CNN and MSNBC carrying Trump by about 4:1.

Didn't know that Trump's event was on two channels.

4:1 is not a good showing for Trump.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Trump probably picked up a lot of undecideds with the veterans rally. It was a no lose for him IMO.

[Lower55]

“Going for the Claire Underwood look it would seem.”

I think she’s trying to look like Trump.