On Friday morning, Donald Trump tweeted that he got “Great Ratings & Reviews Last Night” for his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention’s final night. The president is always ranting about ratings when they are favorable, but he also has a penchant for lying when they are unfavorable. According to what the Daily Beast reported earlier this week, Trump “told those close to him that he is determined to beat Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, in one way in particular: TV ratings.”
Trump desperately wanted to crush the Democratic National Convention’s ratings, but that didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite happened.
According to initial Nielsen numbers, President Trump’s speech Thursday night drew 14.1 million viewers across the three broadcast networks and three major cable news networks. That is more than three million fewer viewers than the 17.5 million who tuned in to watch Biden’s speech one week earlier.
When those numbers are expanded out across nine broadcast and cable networks, Biden still beat Trump by a fairly wide margin, 23.6 million to 21.6 million.
Fox Sports Executive Vice President Michael Mulvihill also broke it down on Twitter:
Overnight ratings for the fourth and final night of the conventions.
Six networks combined (FNC/CNN/MSNBC/ABC/CBS/NBC). Ratings are for the duration of each nominee’s speech only:
Democratic / Biden – 17.5
Republican / Trump – 14.1— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) August 28, 2020
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Top-rated markets for President Trump’s acceptance speech last night:
West Palm – 18.9
Memphis – 18.9
Nashville – 18.6
Las Vegas – 18.1
Salt Lake – 18.0
San Antonio – 17.3
Pittsburgh – 17.2
Dallas – 16.9
Cincinnati – 16.8
Atlanta – 16.6— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) August 28, 2020
Top markets for Vice President Biden’s acceptance speech last week:
New York – 23.1
San Francisco – 23.1
West Palm – 21.7
Washington – 20.9
Philadelphia – 19.5
San Diego – 19.3
Seattle – 19.0
Denver – 19.0
Chicago – 18.9
Baltimore – 18.9— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) August 28, 2020
All four nights of the DNC outperformed Trump’s RNC in ratings.
Trump’s acceptance speech lasted seventy long minutes. Last night, Trump’s speech was like listening to an old drunk at a bar spinning wild-eyed tales while patting himself on the back. And unfortunately, the people listening were the ones that needed the bourbon more than he did after suffering through the president’s long-winded speech. Trump, though, can’t boast about his ratings since he failed to outperform Biden. But, honestly, with this president, he might just call the Nielson ratings “fake news.” Reality just isn’t his thing.
Featured image via DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marianique Santos
