Everything about the 4th and final night of the Republican National Convention went wrong ratings wise. Whatever it was the GOP and Donald Trump were selling, no one wanted much.
Fox News did reap 9 million viewers, but that 700,000 fewer than in 2016 when Trump was first nominated.
Overall the drop from 2016 for the night across all six networks was really shocking. In 2916 the total was 30,778,000. Last night it was 19,698,000. Nearly 11 million Trump supporters were gone. That’s roughly a 36% drop. Stunning.
The numbers were far lower than the DNC’s ratings just a week ago. On Night 4, the DNC had 21,794,000. Numbers from Nielsen and ShowbuzzDaily.com.
And the numbers also show that whatever interest there is in Trump and his cohorts, it’s coming only from Fox News. All 5 other networks’ numbers add up to just about the Fox total. Even hate watchers from MSNBC left by Night 4.
Across all six networks: For all four nights combined, the total viewers dropped from 23 million in 2016 to 17 million in 2020.
The entire four nights of the RNC were like something from Nixon in 1972. Everything current was ignored. Where Nixon just gave the finger to Vietnam, Watergate (which was just starting) and myriad other issues, Trump sort of glossed over the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and the economy. The Trump speakers just pretended there was nothing wrong, and if there were problems, there were somehow the fault of Joe Biden and Barack Obama– despite that duo not being in the White House for four years.
Where Biden’s convention reflected a warm sensibility about all people being included in the Democratic Party, the Trump convention was a full on PR spin from Trump’s avaricious adult children, his once-naked model wife, and his pack of looney lackeys who talked about Joe Biden with sheer hatred and no facts. The Biden people stuck to facts– what Trump has done to damage the country and how Biden can fix it.
Will the TV ratings reflect the final vote in November? One can only hope.
