Trump Town Hall Ratings Trump Town Hall Trounces Haley-DeSantis Debate

Fox News' town hall with Trump crushed CNN's debate, with 4.3 million viewers compared to CNN's 2.5 million, marking a downward trend.

Former President Donald Trump's decision to reject CNN's offer to participate in the fifth presidential debate and instead take part in an independent town hall with Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier proved to be a wise move, as the town hall garnered 4.3 million viewers between 9 and 10 p.m. This trounced CNN's Republican presidential debate, which only averaged 2.5 million viewers in the same time span.

This decision by Trump to counter-program the debate has proven successful in the past as well. When he chose to participate in a sit-down interview with Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson instead of the first primary debate, the interview reeled in more than 239 million views on Carlson's Twitter account.

In fact, Trump's presence has historically drawn in high viewership numbers. 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. This trend continued with the third debate hosted by NBC News, which raked in 7.5 million viewers.

The decline in viewership for the recent CNN debate is evident when compared to 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 downward trend continued with the Wednesday debate, which earned the lowest number of viewers in comparison to the four previous events.

Overall, Trump's decision to opt for a town hall with Fox News instead of participating in the CNN debate has once again proven to be a successful move in terms of viewership. It is clear that his presence continues to draw in high numbers, and this trend is unlikely to change in the future.