Kelly asked White House hopeful and Senator Ted Cruz, who took the centerstage in Trump’s absence.
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Hundreds of voters waited Trump’s arrival in Nashua for a rally scheduled the morning after a Fox News debate the Republican front-runner shunned in favor of hosting his own show – an event dedicated to veterans.
Not that it matters much, but the consensus was that Marco Rubio did the best in the Trumpless debate and that Cruz hurt himself a little. I did the right thing because I did something great for veterans.
But Trump’s willingness to take on Fox News – and tap into a deep well of far-right resentment against the network – seemed to give candidates like Cruz the go-ahead to confront the network as well.
Trump skipped the presidential debate in Iowa due to Fox News’ refusal to remove one of the debate’s moderators, Megyn Kelly, whom Trump claimed was biased against him.
Fox News garnered an 8.4 household rating in Nielsen’s metered market overnights, meaning an average of 8.4 percent of households in the 25 biggest markets in the USA tuned in.
Trump told the crowd that Cruz was a loser in the Thursday night debate that Trump had boycotted. “The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race”, said J. Ann Selzer, the pollster who led the survey.
In a statement after the rally, it added that if Fox News “wanted to join in that effort and make a contribution, Mr Trump would have welcomed that”.
“I think she really works hard and I think she does a good job”.
By comparison, the combined viewership of CNN and MSNBC, which covered Trump’s competing Iowa event last night, appears to be about 3 million or so, according to an analysis by CNN. Trump’s rivals, Cruz, Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, all planned a full day of campaigning in the state. 28% to 23% among likely GOP caucus-goers.
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No candidate in the past 25 years has been viewed more unfavorably by Americans (Democrat, Republican and independent) than Donald Trump.
