The audiences for the Republican debates last night were yuge — er, huge.
A whopping 24 million watched the debate from 9 p.m. ET to just past 11 p.m. ET. [Fox News Channel] drew 7.9 million in the (age) 25-54 demo.
This is now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.
Some of this is the Donald Trump effect… but some of it isn’t:
The 5 p.m. ET debate, withe the 7 lower-tier candidates did very well for Fox News too, drawing 6.1 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the demo, making it the third-highest primary debate ever on cable.
This can only be good news for Republicans overall, and particularly good news for the candidates perceived to have done well — Carly Fiorina in particular, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Mike Huckabee. Sure, Donald Trump deserves a chunk of the credit, bringing in some viewers who otherwise wouldn’t be interested… but what if this reflects a country deeply troubled about the future, and looking for new, strong leadership to get the country back on the right track?