His Career Hanging by a Thread, a Plurality of Americans Want Bill O’Reilly Gone

Things aren’t looking good for Bill O’Reilly in the wake of his latest sexual harassment scandal with the Wall Street Journal reporting last night that Fox News is about to give O’Reilly the ax.

If O’Reilly is looking for hope, there is none to be had: A new poll by Morning Consult shows that “a plurality of each age group — from millennials to baby boomers — says Fox News should cancel O’Reilly’s show.”

Nearly half (46 percent) of those polled think Fox News should cancel the show, compared to just 22 percent who say the network should keep it on the air. A Morning Consult poll conducted earlier this month showed over a third (41 percent) of people said Fox News should cancel “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Ouch. As MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin put it this morning, “By 2:1 margin, Americans want The O’Reilly Factor canceled.”

O’Reilly is really hurting where women are concerned, with Morning Consult reporting that,

Among women, nearly half (48 percent) of those polled think the show should be canceled, including 35 percent of Republican women, up 4 points from the previous week. (Another third of Republican women said Fox News should keep “The O’Reilly Factor” on the air.) Sixty-five percent of Democratic women and more than one-third (44 percent) of women who identify as independent say they believe the show should be canceled.

The Wall Street Journal says O’Reilly’s fate will be announced in the next few days, with the last possible day being April 24, when the O’Reilly Factor’s host is due to return to his show.

If not his show, then where? For this answer, due credit must be given to WIRED‘s editor Nicholas Thompason who had these snarky words for O’Reilly:

Bill O'Reilly's brand is so toxic right now the only place that might hire him is the White House.

— Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson) April 19, 2017

No report would be complete without mentioning the effect this news has on the broader political landscape. And the Washington Examiner‘s T. Beckett Adams’ analysis puts the event in context:

The first 100 days of Trump: Tomi loses her show, Milo's book is cancelled, O’Reilly is off the air and Alex Jones apologizes for Pizzagate.

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) April 19, 2017

We could add to that an aircraft carrier sailing in the wrong direction but there is no need to pile on.

America saw this moment coming when O’Reilly abruptly went on vacation, and now, by all accounts, Bill O’Reilly’s tenure at Fox News is at an end.

Donald Trump claims to have ridden a wave of popular outrage into the White House. Now a wave of popular outrage has driven his biggest supporter and ally off the air.

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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