CNN, MSNBC, Fox News See Major Ratings Drops After Trump’s Exit From Office: Analysis

U.S. President Donald Trump participates in the final presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump’s exit from the White House has correlated with a decline in ratings and viewership for a number of cable news shows, according to an analysis.

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have all seen overall declines in viewers, Variety said in its analysis, which added that since Trump’s second impeachment trial, “audiences for CNN have plummeted” and “MSNBC is seeing about half CNN’s drop,” while Fox News is down by single digits.

“CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” appeared to encounter the most significant drop at about 33 percent from Nov. 30 to March 5, according to the analysis. “Anderson Cooper 360” saw a similar, 32 percent decline, and “Cuomo Prime Time,” hosted by Chris Cuomo, saw an about 29 percent decline overall.

On MSNBC, “All In With Chris Hayes” slipped about 17 percent, while “Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell” fell 18 percent, and the “Rachel Maddow Show” had a 9 percent drop, the analysis showed.

On Fox News, Sean Hannity’s show dropped nearly 12 percent, and “The Ingraham Angle” dropped 9.2 percent, Variety reported. The only one who appears to have been left relatively unscathed is Tucker Carlson’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” with about a 5 percent dip in viewership, according to Variety.

“CNN also saw three of the four shows with the greatest audience declines among the key 25-54 demo,” the report noted, adding that “the steep drops across all three CNN titles will be of concern.”

During his 2016 campaign and four years in office, Trump regularly was, and still is, the top nightly news story. Variety noted that, without Trump, “there is no easy fix” for legacy news outlets.

“The next opportunity for Trump to dominate the headlines will be if he declares as a candidate for the 2024 elections in 2023, with over two years to go until that potential milestone,” according to the report. “In the meantime, the left-leaning networks will have to rely on politicians making the occasional gaffe and just get used to the post-Trump slump.”

Since leaving office, Trump has kept a relatively low profile as he was deplatformed by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other Big Tech websites. He has mostly issued statements and comments via email and through his adviser and spokesman, Jason Miller, while only delivering one speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February.

Separately, conservative-leaning broadcaster Newsmax said it was the second-most-watched news network for Republicans after Fox News. The company cited a poll from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates.

“No question that Fox’s loss among GOP voters are Newsmax’s and OANN’s [One America News] gains,” the pollsters wrote. “Many GOP voters who are former Fox viewers claim they watch either Newsmax or OANN at least once a week, with none of the competing news networks coming even close.”