Television viewers were more interested in watching a Donald Trump town hall than the first head-to-head debate between Republican contenders Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.
The town hall, which aired live on Fox News in prime time on Wednesday, was watched by 4.3 million people, the Nielsen company said. The CNN debate, which aired live at the same time, was seen by just under 2.6 million.
Fox said the Trump campaign asked that the town hall go head-to-head on TV against CNN’s debate at 9 p.m. Eastern as a condition of the former president’s appearance.
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Both events took place in Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
Trump has not participated in any of the organized debates between GOP 2024 presidential candidates.
Fox said Trump’s town hall got an additional 1.4 million viewers when reruns were aired at midnight Eastern time and in the middle of the night.
Since Fox News routinely has more viewers than CNN, Wednesday’s ratings victory wasn’t a surprise. The former president has also consistently beaten his GOP rivals by wide margins in public opinion polls.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
