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President Donald Trump’s recent Fox News town hall this week strongly eclipsed a GOP debate between distant Republican candidates Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, according to recent reports.
Per data from AdImpact, Trump reigned supreme with his Fox News town hall, bringing in 5.7 million viewers compared to CNN’s hosting of the fifth GOP presidential debate, which accrued 2.9 million.
Both Gov. DeSantis and Nikki Haley had a chance to present their platforms to Americans during town halls on Fox News, as well, but even their town halls failed to garner the viewership that Trump’s did.
DeSantis netted 3.7 million viewers with his town hall, and Haley netted 3.0 million, according to AdImpact’s data.
Even then, President Trump still had a viewership lead of at least two million.
Fox News reported that the town hall with Trump, hosted and anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, was also the “most-watched program on linear television from 9-10 p.m.” on Wednesday night.
Following Wednesday’s successful town hall, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The Town Hall last night received wonderful reviews. Thank you to Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum for doing a really professional job.”
This is the fifth Republican debate that Trump has declined to attend, and his strategy appears to be working in his favor.
President Trump has successfully upstaged every GOP debate, starting in August 2023, when he strategically collaborated with journalist Tucker Carlson to release an exclusive interview at the same time that the first GOP debate aired. The interview garnered hundreds of millions of views.
In November, for example, he upstaged the third Republican debate with a huge MAGA rally in Hialeah, Florida. “Listen, I’m standing in front of TENS OF THOUSANDS of people right now and it’s on television…that’s a hell of a lot harder to do than a debate!” he told the crowd that night.
