Donald Trump's Town Hall Dwarfs GOP Debate With Impressive Viewership Numbers

On Wednesday evening, leading Republican presidential candidate and 45th President Donald Trump held a highly-anticipated town hall with Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum ahead of the Iowa caucus next week. Trump, who has been leading with double digits in the polls for months, was able to bring in impressive ratings that nearly doubled the fifth GOP primary debate, featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), hosted by CNN. 

According to AdImpact Politics, the Trump town hall in Des Moines had an impressive 5.7 million viewers compared to the fifth GOP debate's 2.9 million viewers. Trump's town hall numbers make the Fox News town hall the most watched Republican primary television event since November 8, when the third GOP debate took place, which had 9.1 million viewers.

Trump's town hall also dwarfs the town halls of his rivals, with Gov. DeSantis' town hall this past week getting 3.7 million views while Haley's town hall only got 3 million. Trump also performed relatively favorably compared to the first few debates, with the DeSantis-Newsom debate having 5.2 million views, the second Republican debate having 9.9 million views, and the first GOP debate getting 14.2 million views.

Trump's town hall also dominated a DeSantis town hall held in December by CNN (734,000 viewers), with over seven times as many Americans tuning in to hear from the former president. Trump's dominance of the airwaves mirrors his dominance of the presidential race.

According to the Five Thirty Eight polling average, Trump enjoys 60.4 percent support nationally while DeSantis has 12.1 percent, Haley has 11.7 percent, and Vivek Ramaswamy (R-OH) has 4.3 percent. In Iowa, where the first contest of 2024 is set to take place on Monday, Trump has 52.3 percent support compared to Haley's 17.7 percent, DeSantis' 16.2 percent, and Vivek's 6.3 percent.

Trump also dominates in the polls against President Biden, with the Real Clear Politics polling average having the leading Republican presidential candidate up 2.2 percentage points over the elderly Democrat. 

Trump's impressive viewership numbers reveal the truth about what everyday Americans are feeling about the race for the Republican nomination. Donald Trump is the de facto nominee of the GOP, and the primary race is all but over. While Iowa is just days away, the result is practically predetermined as Trump is expected to win Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and every other state afterward on his way to the nomination at the Republican National Convention later this year.

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