Trump's Town Hall with Fox News Was Most-Watched Election Town Hall In Cable News History

Julio Rosas | March 06, 2020 7:30 PM

Fox News' town hall with President Trump, co-moderated by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, dominated the 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET time slot on Thursday for both total viewership and the 25-54 age demographic.

Fox News had 4.2 million total viewers and 744,000 in the 25-54 age demographic for Trump's first town hall with the network since the 2016 presidential election. In contrast, MSNBC had 1.4 million total viewers and 239,000 in the 25-54 age demographic during the same time. CNN came in last, with 1 million total viewers and 251,000 in the 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The streak for Fox News continued during primetime (8:00-11:00 p.m. ET) on Thursday, averaging 3.9 million viewers and 707,000 in A25-54. MSNBC averaged 2.4 million and CNN averaged 1.4 million.

During the town hall, Trump said he was ready to take on Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) when it looked like he was going to be the nominee before Super Tuesday, although admitting it would be a bit tougher to beat him in the November election. After Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden is now the frontrunner.

Trump was asked about his past criticisms of Supreme Court justices after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) threatened Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch of "paying the price" if they make the wrong choice in the abortion cases they are deciding on.

"I have family members who don't speak to me and recently was told 'if you support Trump, you are no longer part of my life.'

How are you going to bring us together?"@realDonaldTrump addresses the political divide in the country. pic.twitter.com/VjGG56p3eb
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 6, 2020

When the town hall was aired again at 11:00 P.M.-12 A.M. ET, Fox News netted 2 million total viewers and 422,000 in A25-54, meaning the total viewership for the event was 6,137,000 total viewers and 1,166,000 in the A25-54 demo.