President Trump drew a very respectable national audience during his speech before Congress on Tuesday night: 43 million viewers tuned in for the landmark political event, according to early Nielsen Media Research numbers.
Fox News emerged as the network of record as the most-watched channel in all of television with 10.8 million viewers, outpacing rivals in both the cable and broadcast realms.
The closest rival was NBC, with 9.1 million.
Among cable news channels, CNN had an audience of 3.9 million, MSNBC 2.6 million during the president’s well-received prime-time address, which began about 9 p.m.
The news media did not overlook the opportunity to offer some Trump-bashing in the aftermath, however, pointing out that former President Obama enjoyed an audience of 52 million when he gave his first speech before Congress in 2009, just weeks after he was inaugurated.
Mr. Trump’s speech was “far from comparable to Obama’s speech,” noted the Hollywood Reporter; “Obama’s first congressional address dwarfed Trump’s Tuesday night speech,” declared Raw Story.
“While the pundit class may be heaping praise on the performance, the hour-long address failed to draw the same kind of audience as his predecessor did in his first such outing,” said Variety.
The Democratic National Committee described the numbers as “tiny ratings.”
Previous presidents — one Republican, the other a Democrat — set the records, however. Former President George W. Bush drew 62 million viewers during his first speech before Congress in 2003, just prior to the Iraq War. Former President Bill Clinton garnered 66.9 million viewers — which proved to be the largest audience he would attract while in office.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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