All in all, CNN viewers would rather watch Don Lemon than Beto O’Rourke. The network’s hour-long town hall with the Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate drifted to a distant third-place finish in Tuesday night’s cable news ratings–and was down significantly from the network’s average Tuesday night ratings delivery.
According to ratings data compiled by Nielsen, the O’Rourke town hall delivered a total audience of 714,000 viewers, while MSNBC and Fox News Channel both exceeded two million viewers in the same time period: 2.196 million for MSNBC and 2.260 million for top-rated Fox News.
CNN’s ratings delivery was down nearly 30% compared to its average Tuesday night, which over the last few months has typically reached more than one million viewers. O’Rourke even failed to exceed the audience that watched a CNN town hall featuring third-tier candidate John Hickenlooper, which drew 745,000 viewers in March. The lowest-rated town hall so far this cycle was CNN’s event with Julian Castro, which reached just 654,000 viewers in April.
Illegal immigrant who stole DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci bag pleads guilty, faces deportation
Sanctuary politicians’ rhetoric led to 1,150% surge in violence against ICE agents: DHS
Deep Dive: Just What Are These ‘Illegal’ Orders Dems Want the Military to Disobey? Here They Are, And They’re Anything but Illegal
Bondi targets James Comey, Letitia James in legal battle: ‘hold…accountable for unlawful conduct’
DOJ renews fight for Epstein and Maxwell grand jury records
WNBA Star Admits That Elite 8th Graders Could ‘Probably’ Beat WNBA Players
DOJ files motion to unseal Epstein docs in latest step toward release
White House Delays Rollout of Healthcare Proposal After Getting Significant Backlash: Report
JD Vance Shreds Mitch McConnell Over ‘Ridiculous Attack on the President’s Team’
NYC suburb makes major security move by city border after Mamdani victory: ‘Talks like he’s pro-criminal’
Trump signs executive order targeting certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groups
Trump launches ‘Genesis Mission’ to supercharge US scientific AI innovation
Mamdani appoints top DSA leaders among more than 400 others to transition committees
‘Trump will probably come after me again’: Comey reacts to criminal case dismissal
Australian Senate Suspended After Right-Wing Leader Wears Burka in Protest
Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by national advertisers, CNN’s O’Rourke town hall had 194,000 viewers, down 38% from its average Tuesday night delivery of 313,000. In the demo, Fox News finished first with 362,000 viewers, followed by MSNBC (315,000).
The poor ratings will raise questions about O’Rourke’s ability to generate buzz in a crowded field, but also about the debate among Democrats over the wisdom of going where the viewers are and appearing on Fox News. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren recently announced she would not accept an offer to appear in a Fox town hall, while candidates like Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg have reached large audiences on FNC. Sanders’ Fox town hall remains the highest-rated town hall this cycle, with a total audience of 2.554 million viewers.
