Share

Donald Trump was right: his absence really did lower debate viewership

“I’d never thought I’d have those kind of leads and New Hampshire, I have a 22 point lead”, Trump said.

Advertisement

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are locked in a statistical tie in the hard-fought and unexpectedly close Iowa Democratic presidential contest, a new Des Moines Register-Bloomberg poll found Saturday.

Especially troubling for Cruz has been his opposition to the federal law that requires the USA fuel supply to use a certain amount of ethanol, a key economic driver in Iowa.

Rubio needs Jackson – and hordes of other Cruz supporters – to caucus for him Monday.

There’s nothing Donald Trump likes more than being proven right, and so when debate viewership numbers for Thursday night’s showdown on Fox News Channel came out, the Republican presidential frontrunner must have been skipping around his hotel hallways.

Despite Trump’s absence, Thursday’s debate was the second-largest audience ever for a Fox News telecast, beaten only by the first Republican presidential debate in 2015 with 24 million viewers.

A majority of conservative likely voters say they support either Trump or Cruz, while the same two candidates combine for less than 30% of moderate or liberal primary voters.

Cruz focused on Rubio in several Sunday talk show appearances, following his campaign’s recent TV ad attacks at Rubio.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is trailing in third place among Republicans with 15 percent support and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has 10 percent.

Trump is leading in most polls, so, at the least, he can benefit from low debate viewership. Marco, please attack Ted. “In fact, I’ll sing Donald’s praises”.

Some Twitter users who support Trump, or at least his influence on the debates, begged to differ.

“Six weeks ago, Donald thought I was terrific, I was his friend, he was singing my praises”, Cruz said. They’re attacking me with all their might.

Advertisement

Cruz said he will continue to “run every minute” over the next 36 hours – he is slated to visit his final county in Iowa on Monday.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump