Ratings for Wednesday night’s Fox News town hall in Iowa by former President Donald Trump topped CNN’s simultaneous debate between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 64%, according to data released Thursday.
The 77-year-old GOP front-runner headlined the most-watched TV show of the night, according to preliminary data published by Nielsen Media, with 4.4 million total viewers tuning into his hour-long performance in Des Moines.
Just 2.7 million people watched Haley and DeSantis debate for two hours at Drake University in the Iowa capital.
Trump viewers also topped the Haley-DeSantis debate among the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic, with 576,000 tuning in for the former president’s appearance and 515,000 checking out the governor’s grudge match.
The former commander-in-chief, who leads Haley and DeSantis by more than 36 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics Iowa polling average, hinted that he will soon choose a running mate and took shots at President Biden’s Middle East policy during the broadcast.
Trump headlined last night’s most-watched TV show, preliminary data released by Nielsen Media shows, with 4.3 million total viewers watching his performance in Iowa. Tannen Maury/UPI/Shutterstock 2.53 million people watched Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis duke it out in the Des Moines debate. AFP via Getty Images
He also touted “hoaxes” from the first and second presidential runs, including the FBI’s investigation of his campaign into collusion with the Russian government in 2016 and efforts by a former intelligence official to claim a Post report denouncing his chief political opponent, Joe Biden, was “leaching.” produced by the Kremlin
But when asked by Fox News moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum whether his administration would achieve “retribution” against these enemies, Trump demurred.
“Well, first of all, a lot of people would say that’s not so bad,” he said. “Look at what they’re doing — the Russia Russia Russia hoax, the FBI-Twitter hoax, the 51 intelligence agent hoax, all the different hoaxes they’re doing. I mean, you know, a lot of people would say, that’s probably normal.”
Asked by Fox News moderators Bret Baier (left) and Martha MacCallum whether his second administration would achieve “retribution” against these enemies, Trump declined. Tannen Maury/UPI/Shutterstock
“We will make this country successful again, I will not have time for revenge,” he added. “Our final reply is success.”
Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, has been floated by some as a possible running mate, and has repeatedly refused to rule her out as a choice when confronted by the press.
“I don’t play for second,” the 51-year-old candidate often says in response.
Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, has been floated by some as the vice presidential choice for the front-runner, and has again declined to rule her out as a choice. Reuters
The head-to-head debate pitted the two main contestants against each other to compare their records as former state leaders — but Trump’s absence led many commentators to deride the event as a “race for second place.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also threw a curveball Wednesday afternoon by suspending his own campaign and being caught on a hot mic disparaging Haley and DeSantis hours before the debate was set to begin.
“He will smoke. And you and I both know, he’s not willing to do it,” Christie said of Haley minutes before ending her 2024 run at the New Hampshire town hall.
DeSantis focused his campaign on winning Iowa, traveling to all 99 counties to meet with voters, but now trails Haley in poll aggregator RealClear by 2%. JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The head-to-head programming pits top contestants against each other to compare their records as former state leaders — in an event some deride as a “race for second place.” AP
The Garden Stater added that DeSantis had called it “reckless,” though it’s unclear what had spooked the Florida governor.
DeSantis, 45, was better in the ratings for the “Big Red vs. Blue State Debate” against California’s Gavin Newsom, which drew 4.75 million live viewers to FNC on Nov. 30, according to Nielsen ratings.
DeSantis has focused his campaign on winning Iowa, traveling to all 99 counties to meet with voters, but now trails Haley in polling aggregator RealClear by two percentage points.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
