President Trump appears to be losing the ratings war to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Early ratings so far suggest Biden's Thursday town hall on ABC drew in 12.7 million viewers, Variety reports. Meanwhile Trump's simultaneously-held town hall event brought in 10.4 million viewers, early ratings indicate.
Trump has been focused on his TV ratings long before he entered the White House. He spent the early days of his presidency dragging Arnold Schwarzenegger, his Celebrity Apprentice replacement, for bringing in lower ratings than he'd once gotten, and carried that obsession into the COVID-19 pandemic as he boasted his task force press conferences were beating out news networks and reality shows.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Biden scheduled his ABC town hall first after Trump dropped out of the town-hall style presidential debate they were set to appear at Thursday night. Trump later scheduled one at the same time with NBC, which aired on more channels and platforms than Biden's, but was half an hour shorter. Updated ratings could still put Trump ahead, but for now, Biden appears to have the ratings advantage. Expect a tweet from Trump trying to prove the ratings wrong shortly.
-
The Week Unwrapped: what’s scuppering Bulgaria’s Euro dream?Podcast Plus has Syria changed, a year on from its revolution? And why are humans (mostly) monogamous?
-
Will there be peace before Christmas in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Discussions over the weekend could see a unified set of proposals from EU, UK and US to present to Moscow
-
Quiz of The Week: 6 – 12 DecemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
Benin thwarts coup attemptSpeed Read President Patrice Talon condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the West African country’s army
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
UN Security Council backs Trump’s Gaza peace planSpeed Read The United Nations voted 13-0 to endorse President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza
-
Chile picks leftist, far-right candidates for runoff voteSpeed Read The presidential runoff election will be between Jeannette Jara, a progressive from President Gabriel Boric’s governing coalition, and far-right former congressman José Antonio Kast
-
Venezuela mobilizes as top US warship nearsSpeed Read The largest and most advanced US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has entered the Caribbean and put Venezuela on high alert
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
