When Joe Biden was running for president, he pledged to the be kind of figure who could bring Democrats and Republicans together in a sharply divided county.
It turns out, Tucker Carlson is a lot better at it.
Because when it comes to the commentator more Americans are listening to, the Fox News firebrand is beating his leading liberal competition among the audience advertisers covet the most — even among those who consider themselves Democrats.
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1488660705238822914?
According to the entertainment news website The Wrap, Nielsen ratings data broken down by political affiliation for October, the most recent month data is available, showed “Tucker Carlson Tonight” is a bigger hit with the 25- to 54-year-old demographic among self-identified Democrats than the dismally left-wing MSNBC and CNN.
“Carlson was top among Democrats in the demo across all of cable news that month and ranked third place among Dems in total viewership, too,” The Wrap’s Lindsey Ellefson reported. “Of the top four programs among Democrats in total viewers, Fox News had three: ‘The Five,’ ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ and ‘Hannity.’ The top spot in total viewers went to MSNBC’s ‘The Rachel Maddow Show.’”
And Carlson’s popularity wasn’t limited to October.
“For the entire year of 2021, ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ was the highest-rated program in cable news overall, bringing in an average of 3.214 million total viewers with 535,000 in the demo,” Ellefson wrote.
That news is no doubt baffling to mainstream media “comedians” like Stephen Colbert, or to any deluded American who still thinks The New York Times is the repository of all the news that’s fit to print, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s casually familiar with the Fox News host and his show.
Carlson is obviously a conservative, but his show is actually an example of the range of opinions that can be found on the conservative side of politics — diversity of thought, in other words, the only kind that really matters.
While his targets are usually on the left, Carlson often takes on the leaders of the Republican Party, too. The current crisis in Europe, with Russia threatening to invade Ukraine, is just the latest example where Carlson’s opinions are not in line with prominent Republicans who are demanding the U.S. take a stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Those opinions have gotten Carlson attacked by voices on the right, including commentator Dick Morris in a piece published by The Western Journal, as an advocate of appeasement.
But overall, Carlson is firmly on the right, so it’s easy to see why those on the right would watch. What’s less obvious is why he’s such a draw with liberals, until the competition is taken into account: Unlike the drearily predictable world of progressive “news” and opinion regurgitating the liberal position of the day, Carlson is interesting, the way an individual thinker can be.
Self-identifying Democrats who get tired of being spoon-fed news and opinions that comport with the Democratic establishment’s views – from the coronavirus pandemic to foreign policy — clearly appreciate that.
As journalist and commentator Zaid Jilani wrote in a Twitter post, “One thing about Carlson is he likes engaging with arguments on the left and having lefties on. It’s a more interesting show than some of the others out there for that reason. Not quite Firing Line because of the format but it has a closer ethos to it.”
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1488661081090408454?
Could an honest person say anything similar about the shows aired by Fox News’ competitors? (The shrewish Rachel Maddow? CNN’s pompous Don Lemon?)
Other social media commenters agreed:
Makes sense. All cnn or msnbc talk about the boring pandemic and how great Biden is doing
— Randy Oreens (@ItBegins2012) February 2, 2022
Not surprising at all since I keep hearing that sensible thinkers with narratives that are not in-line with the mainstream keep saying they don’t get air time on those left mainstream medias but Fox, etc, so-called right medias. Hence they get labeled as “alt-right” etc
— Terri (@wabisabihaus) February 2, 2022
What an embarrassment when their own viewers are more interested in watching their mortal enemies.
— Barny Fraggles (@BFraggles) February 2, 2022
Christina Pushaw, who knows a thing or two about dealing with the leftists in the public eye as the spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, summed up the situation perfectly:
“This is why they try to smear him all the time,” she wrote.
This is why they try to smear him all the time.
— Christina Pushaw #BuckTheCDC 🐊🚛 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 2, 2022
That’s the thing. Carlson’s opinions aren’t universally popular – liberals surely can’t like his conservative take on major issues; conservatives aren’t going to agree with everything he says. But even for self-identified Democrats stranded in the wasteland of stale propaganda that makes up the vast majority of the mainstream media, he must seem like an oasis.
It’s not the kind of subject most liberals, trapped in the straightjacket of liberal orthodox thinking, are open to grasping, but it’s one Americans who respect the whole concept of free speech and freedom of opinions can understand immediately.
And for the modern Democratic Party, very much including President Joe Biden, freedom of thought is the most dangerous kind of freedom of all.
via westernjournal
It’s good conservatives have at least this one thing to compete with the propaganda machine of the Marxist, socialist, democrats. We have Tucker who is great, but they have almost every other venue like social media, cable news, local news, major news networks, pbs, npr, the emperor and every other democrat congressman that cares to speak, late night comics on every channel, major newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times, and even these conservative web pages who feel it is their responsibility to give them equal time for their propaganda, even though they censor conservatives with impunity. If the winner of this war is the one who has the most opportunities to tell lies, these guys have all the air time and bandwidth to do that and do. If their viewers are leaving it’s because maybe they are finally realizing they are being played. We can only hope that their brains aren’t too far gone.
Dems “jumping ship” is not surprising.They tend to bend whichever way the wind is blowing!
Exactly! They are like children!
Except for physical age, they ARE children. The ‘educators’ have long indoctrinated the children. This has been going on for a century! The EDUCATORS were indoctrinated first. I would guess that 75% of teachers and their administrators are ALL following their EMOTIONS for the left. LISTEN for their telling lapses in which the truth comes out. FEELINGS…whereas, the RIGHT operates on LOGIC…but who LOVES logic? It is so dry, it is hard to sell…unless you can see the outcome easily!
EXACTLY!
Impressive, but dem view are won over by fearful emotion content
but with our Conservative Ticker Carlson they are watching and hearing more wise stable TRUMPing
US news and that’s some very comforting info
🥰CHRISTrumpOwens and all their US TRUMPlican Lawmakers successfully US 2020-2036 Reelected Landslide
Amen & Amen🥰
CNN AKA Communist News Network is anything but professional! They are nothing but a bunch of sex preverts!
carlson rules with common sense and truth
I live in Toronto. Tucker Carlson is the 1 show I never miss. He allows his guests, actual experts, to talk. He does not spend the interview time regurgitating his opinion.
There are 2 areas I disagree with him on – religion and abortion; but hey, no one is perfect.
Congratulations, not everyone has a BRAIN!
i dont like the way hannity ans ingraham interject and interrupt guests,also hannity comes across as self glorified. they can learn from the best which is life/liberty/ and levin
Demofuc$#!! are like spies, they do this ONLY because they want to be reelected, after that they give you the FINGER!! HAHA!! We fooled you again. Don’t fall for this B.S.
Our country is becoming more divided than unified!
Biden has failed miserably and his polling numbers are a reflection of voters disgust with his administration very poor leadership!
Fox called Arizona for Biden before anyone else so not really a victory. Just better then the first viewing numbers.