CNN’s attempt to attract viewers by hosting a Donald Trump town hall has not gone well, and viewership numbers are down.
The New Republic said, “There appears to have been a major problem with the broadcast of the town hall. Just weeks after the former president appeared on CNN, the network’s ratings plummeted. In fact, his show last week was the worst the network had recorded since June 2015—a crucial month.” The network averages 429,000 viewers each Monday through Friday, according to figures cited by the Daily Beast — less than half of MSNBC and Fox News.
CNN went from 587,000 viewers to 429,000 viewers after Trump’s town hall, which means the decision to give Donald Trump airtime cost the network about 160,000 viewers each day. What’s worse is that according to TVNewser, CNN has been reporting benefits for years in the face of the Trump fiasco.
Trump is no longer an artist. Trump’s fatigue is real, and the former president has been using the same text for eight years. He’s old, and CNN found out the hard way Trump does not drive polls. Instead, they push viewers away.
The controversy over CNN shows that the polls are undermining Trump’s influence. If Trump is the Republican nominee, he could push voters the way he pushed CNN viewers.
The message for every other network is that if they get into bed with Donald Trump, they should be prepared to lose their viewers.
Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a White House Press Pool and DRM correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in public administration.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association