Another troubling sign for Trump as night one of the Republican convention drew 3.2 million fewer viewers than night one of the DNC.
The first night of the Republican National Convention averaged 15.8 million viewers on Monday, a sharp drop of 28% from 2016.
The audience figure from Nielsen was also below the opening night of last week’s Democratic National Convention which averaged 18.7 million viewers over the three major English language broadcast networks and three leading cable news channels. The audience for the Democrats on the first night of their convention was also down about 28% from 2016.
Trump demanded a blockbuster convention after seeing the wide praise that the Democratic Party earned, but instead, the first night of the Republican convention was an event that alternated between dull and insane.
Trump’s convention lacks star power. Night one of Biden’s convention was closed by Michelle Obama, while the best that Trump could come up was a laughably terrible Donald Trump Jr., and the immediately forgettable Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
Donald Trump has mythologized himself as a ratings draw, but almost half of his television viewership came from Fox News.
The ratings showed that Trump has a death grip on the Fox News crowd, but the lack of enthusiasm from anywhere else is an ominous sign of looming defeat for Trump and his party.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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