Does Donald Trump care more about TV ratings than election results?


After the third straight night of the Democratic convention squashing the TV ratings of last week's Republican convention, former reality TV star Donald Trump is starting to sweat. Trump declared last week that no one would watch the Democrats' shindig, but seeing as that statement looks a little foolish now, his campaign has launched a wave of emails asking supporters not to tune into Clinton's nomination acceptance speech Thursday night, CNN Money reports.
"Unless you want to be lied to, belittled, and attacked for your beliefs, don't watch Hillary's DNC speech tonight. Instead, help Donald Trump hold her accountable, call out her lies, and fight back against her nasty attacks," the email said. While the message was packaged as a fundraising email, its content certainly makes a reader wonder what Trump's priorities here really are.
Nielsen, which records the number of traditional TV viewers for a given broadcast, reports that 26 million viewers watched the first day of the Democratic convention Monday, versus 23 million for night one of the Republican convention last week. On Tuesday, 24 million tuned in again to watch the Democrats, versus 19 million for the Republicans' second day. The third night of festivities pulled in 24 million viewers for the Democrats, edging out the GOP's third night, which pulled 23.4 million.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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