Below is a table featuring the ratings for all prime time shows on FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC from Monday, October 26 through Thursday, October 29. Keep in mind, the key demographic is A25-54.
Network | Day | A25-54 | A18-49 | A18-34 | Total viewers | |
Tucker Carlson Tonight | FOX News | Tuesday | 1.27 | 0.76 | 0.36 | 7.562 |
Hannity | FOX News | Monday | 1.16 | 0.72 | 0.32 | 7.304 |
Hannity | FOX News | Tuesday | 1.07 | 0.63 | 0.29 | 6.403 |
Tucker Carlson Tonight | FOX News | Monday | 1.06 | 0.67 | 0.33 | 6.765 |
Tucker Carlson Tonight | FOX News | Wednesday | 1.03 | 0.64 | 0.38 | 6.315 |
Hannity | FOX News | Wednesday | 1.00 | 0.59 | 0.34 | 5.820 |
Tucker Carlson Tonight | FOX News | Thursday | 0.91 | 0.55 | 0.31 | 6.129 |
Hannity | FOX News | Thursday | 0.81 | 0.51 | 0.31 | 5.376 |
The Ingraham Angle | FOX News | Wednesday | 0.78 | 0.50 | 0.26 | 4.642 |
The Ingraham Angle | FOX News | Tuesday | 0.77 | 0.47 | 0.23 | 4.765 |
The Ingraham Angle | FOX News | Monday | 0.74 | 0.43 | 0.18 | 4.924 |
The Story with Martha MacCallum | FOX News | Monday | 0.72 | 0.44 | 0.21 | 4.456 |
The Ingraham Angle | FOX News | Thursday | 0.70 | 0.46 | 0.29 | 4.567 |
Cuomo Prime Time (9pm) | CNN | Wednesday | 0.57 | 0.37 | 0.19 | 3.004 |
The Story with Martha MacCallum | FOX News | Wednesday | 0.56 | 0.33 | 0.17 | 3.165 |
Anderson Cooper 360 | CNN | Wednesday | 0.55 | 0.34 | 0.17 | 2.641 |
Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC | Wednesday | 0.54 | 0.34 | 0.12 | 3.823 |
The Story with Martha MacCallum | FOX News | Thursday | 0.53 | 0.31 | 0.14 | 3.025 |
The Story with Martha MacCallum | FOX News | Tuesday | 0.52 | 0.30 | 0.10 | 3.270 |
Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC | Tuesday | 0.50 | 0.31 | 0.10 | 3.426 |
CNN Tonight (10pm) | CNN | Wednesday | 0.49 | 0.33 | 0.16 | 2.015 |
CNN Tonight (10pm) | CNN | Tuesday | 0.49 | 0.33 | 0.11 | 1.877 |
Cuomo Prime Time (9pm) | CNN | Thursday | 0.49 | 0.32 | 0.13 | 2.352 |
Cuomo Prime Time (9pm) | CNN | Tuesday | 0.49 | 0.31 | 0.13 | 2.174 |
Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC | Monday | 0.49 | 0.30 | 0.10 | 3.304 |
Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC | Thursday | 0.48 | 0.31 | 0.10 | 3.675 |
CNN Tonight (10pm) | CNN | Thursday | 0.46 | 0.30 | 0.13 | 1.823 |
Anderson Cooper 360 | CNN | Tuesday | 0.45 | 0.30 | 0.12 | 1.939 |
Erin Burnett OutFront | CNN | Wednesday | 0.45 | 0.29 | 0.13 | 2.019 |
Anderson Cooper 360 | CNN | Thursday | 0.45 | 0.28 | 0.13 | 2.080 |
Erin Burnett OutFront | CNN | Tuesday | 0.41 | 0.27 | 0.10 | 1.746 |
Erin Burnett OutFront | CNN | Thursday | 0.41 | 0.25 | 0.15 | 1.884 |
Cuomo Prime Time (9pm) | CNN | Monday | 0.39 | 0.27 | 0.17 | 2.050 |
Anderson Cooper 360 | CNN | Monday | 0.39 | 0.24 | 0.13 | 1.975 |
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC | Wednesday | 0.38 | 0.22 | 0.06 | 3.036 |
Erin Burnett OutFront | CNN | Monday | 0.37 | 0.24 | 0.12 | 1.736 |
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC | Tuesday | 0.37 | 0.21 | 0.11 | 2.686 |
All In with Chris Hayes | MSNBC | Monday | 0.37 | 0.21 | 0.09 | 2.370 |
All In with Chris Hayes | MSNBC | Tuesday | 0.36 | 0.22 | 0.09 | 2.378 |
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC | Monday | 0.36 | 0.19 | 0.06 | 2.767 |
All In with Chris Hayes | MSNBC | Wednesday | 0.35 | 0.21 | 0.06 | 2.633 |
The ReidOut | MSNBC | Tuesday | 0.35 | 0.20 | 0.07 | 2.268 |
CNN Tonight (10pm) | CNN | Monday | 0.34 | 0.24 | 0.15 | 1.695 |
All In with Chris Hayes | MSNBC | Thursday | 0.32 | 0.22 | 0.10 | 2.396 |
The ReidOut | MSNBC | Monday | 0.32 | 0.19 | 0.07 | 2.207 |
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC | Thursday | 0.32 | 0.19 | 0.06 | 2.710 |
The ReidOut | MSNBC | Wednesday | 0.30 | 0.18 | 0.06 | 2.261 |
The ReidOut | MSNBC | Thursday | 0.28 | 0.18 | 0.06 | 2.100 |
What immediately stands out is the high ratings for FOX News. Leading up to the election, FOX News is the network of choice for the majority of prime time cable news viewers. While CNN and MSNBC are among the top cable networks right now, neither comes close to matching FOX News on average. In fact, regardless of what happens in this election, FOX News’ ratings make it undeniable that President Trump has a solid, core fanbase.
Leading the week is Tucker Carlson’s interview with Tony Bobulinski, who has done business with Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Trump supporters, and perhaps some undecided voters as well, tuned in to see what Bobulinski had to say. The Hunter Biden allegations had a wild run on Tucker Carlson Tonight, with documents reportedly intercepted in the mail, then found again. While CNN and MSNBC continue to either ignore or dismiss this as a non-story, FOX News is seeing the ratings benefits. It is not hard to imagine FOX News being the highest-rated network on Election Night. CNN tends to be competitive with FOX News for major live events, while MSNBC’s ratings signify them likely coming in third.
Betting odds for the Presidential election are largely stable, with RealClearPolitics’ aggregate total continuing to give Biden roughly a 30 percentage point lead. This is quite the comeback from earlier this year, when the betting market had the former Vice President’s chances for the Democratic nomination at less than 10 percent.
Using FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages and Biden’s polling performance compared to Clinton’s actual performance, I have created an electoral college projection, as well as state-by-state margin projections. States in bold are states projected to flip from one party in 2016 to the other in 2020. As is standard, here is the key:
Safe: >15 percentage point lead
Likely: 11-15
Leans: 6-10
Tilts: 1-5
Overall, this projection is more favorable to the sitting President than most others, yet makes Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States. Leave us your thoughts in the comments!
