Donald Trump, who was notably irked during Kamala Harris’s Thursday night speech, has more reason to fume as newly-released TV ratings show he was soundly beaten in viewership by Harris.
The latest ratings reveal that Harris’s nomination acceptance speech at the DNC drew a significant audience, earning a combined rating of 15 across seven networks. In contrast, Trump’s RNC address last month garnered a lower rating of 12.3. This 22 percent disparity means millions more tuned in to watch Harris.
Fox analyst Michael Mulvihill first reported these figures, which underscore a notable viewership gap. Trump, known for his obsession with ratings dating back to his reality TV days, was clearly displeased. He reacted by posting a detailed critique of Harris’s speech on Truth Social and made a series of frantic calls to Fox News and Newsmax, the latter cutting him off after ten minutes.
Trump had previously boasted about the RNC’s viewership, predicting that it would surpass the DNC’s numbers. However, this prediction fell flat as the DNC outperformed the RNC in viewership throughout the convention.
For instance, on Wednesday, Nielsen reported that the RNC drew approximately 17.9 million viewers for JD Vance’s primetime speech, while the DNC attracted 11 percent more viewers on its third night with Tim Walz’s address. The viewership numbers for the opening nights and the second days of both conventions showed similar trends, with the DNC consistently outperforming the RNC.
Adding to Trump’s discomfort, Harris’s speech drew the largest audience in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is close to his Mar-a-Lago estate. This detail is likely to further aggravate the former president.