Fox News Channel’s Trump town hall crushes viewership of CNN’s Haley-DeSantis debate

Fox News Channel’s town hall with former President Trump averaged 4.3 million total viewers on Wednesday night, crushing viewership of a CNN debate between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Trump’s town hall, co-moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, topped CNN’s GOP primary debate by 68% and was the most-watched program on linear television from 9-10 p.m. ET.

CNN’s debate averaged 2.5 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. ET, a smaller audience than Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity received in November when he moderated the historic debate between DeSantis and Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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The Haley-DeSantis showdown was CNN’s lowest-rated debate since the 2016 election cycle.

Fox News also crushed CNN in the demographic most coveted by advertisers, as the Trump town hall averaged 553,000 adults age 25-54 while the CNN debate averaged 479,000 viewers in the critical category.

During the town hall, Trump signaled that he has already decided who he will choose to be his running mate in 2024.

"I can't tell you that, really, I mean, I know who it's going to be," Trump said when he was asked who his running mate will be in 2024.

"We'll do another show sometime," Trump said when pushed by MacCallum to "give us a hint."

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Trump’s town hall wasn’t the only dominant performance for Fox News this week, as the network also held town hall events with Haley and DeSantis. Baier, the "Special Report" chief political anchor, and MacCallum, executive editor and anchor of "The Story," co-moderated all three Fox News town