Trumpless Debate Gives Fox News Its Second Highest-Rated Telecast Ever

Fox News may have carried on a Donald Trump-less debate last night, but they still did very well in the ratings overall, scoring their second-highest ratings in the cable network’s history.

The highest remains their first debate in August––the first of the 2016 cycle––which received 24 million viewers. Last night’s debate got a total of 12.5 million viewers, with 3.5 million alone in the 25-54 demographic.

And while it wasn’t one of the most-watched debates of the election cycle, it did receive more viewers than the Fox Business Network debate earlier this month. And keep in mind, that was the lowest-rated debate of the cycle… and with Trump participating.

CNN and MSNBC, which carried parts of Trump’s veterans rally opposite the debate (CNN carried it for roughly 15 minutes), did not come anywhere close to the debate’s numbers.

Megyn Kelly received lots of praise for how tough a moderator she was with all the candidates, especially with those big immigration montage moments with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

The debate also did very well on Facebook and Twitter, with lots of people buzzing about it, though despite his absence Trump still dominated the conversation.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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