More Democrats watch Fox News than they do MSNBC

[Sympthsical]

Just thought I'd throw that out there as an fyi since there's a conversation about this. This is from Nielsen MRI Fusion data from January of this year. (The text is from a Daily Mail article, which is why I'm not linking it, but the data is Nielsen's).

People complain about Fox, but they keep watching it - far more than any other outlet. It's not even close. Some of those calls are originating inside the house. And this is hardly the first survey to reflect this. It's been a data point for years.

Ain't just the rubes padding Fox's bottom line.

The statistics, taken from January of this year, show the outlet performs better than CNN and MSNBC in the 18 and over demographic.

Total primetime viewers for the network totaled 427,000 for Democratic voters, CNN reached only 174,000 Dems, while MSNBC hit 255,000.

In the same data bracket for independents, or those with no party affiliation, the network again was way out in front, raking in 709,000 viewers.

CNN managed to rake in only 117,000 independent viewers, while MSNBC took in 155,000, according to the data.

In the highly sought after 25 to 54 demographic, Fox again is out in front before the two, bringing in 54,000 Democratic voters during primetime hours.

I'm reminded of that great scene in Private Parts with Paul Giamatti where they discuss Howard Stern's ratings.

[walkingman]

1. That is a disgusting thought....how could Dems stomach that crap?

[Sympthsical]

2. Hate watching

Which hey, I get. It's what's getting my house through the current season of The Last of Us.

But if people want to foment an effective boycott of the network, they're going to have to start closer to home.

[walkingman]

21. Is that a good series? I've been seeing it but haven't put on My Stuff yet.

[Sympthsical]

37. Season One is fantastic

Season two is . . . woof. It's really not so good. Every Sunday my partner asks why we're still watching. And it's like, "We've come this far . . ."

I just binged the Pitt in one week - rare for me. It was just so damn good. But I'm a nursing type now, so there's an appeal there. I told a friend who's an ICU nurse about it, and he texted me the next day. "I hate you. I did not sleep, because I watched all 15 episodes over the weekend."

I also really enjoyed season two of Andor which just wrapped up. I'm not a very Star Wars-y person, but it's very good. But then, I'd watch Diego Luna read a phone book.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

25. I hate watched the last couple seasons of Yellowstone. Lol

Sometimes I will flip over to Fox when some major anti trump news comes out - to check on the status of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

[Sympthsical]

38. I always hear about that show

Never seen it, but I can just imagine what it's like from the running internet commentary, lol.

The real scandal about Hunter Biden's laptop is that the man refused to upgrade to Sequoia. He's a Sonoma man through and through, and I'm just not sure if we can allow those kinds of people loose in society.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

44. It a show about a family of serial killers that brands their workers and murders them if they become inconvenient.

They’ve been dumping the bodies in the same spot for decades but it’s ok because it’s in a sparsely populated area with no sheriff. Apparently they don’t have hikers that could stumble on dozens of bodies or an FBI that might get a clue the dead people all worked for their ranch.

It’s a taylor Sheridan right wing circle jerk where the bad people are blue haired city folk. The good guys are wealthy landowners who drive $150,000 Bentleys and fly $2 million dollar helicopters and complain about their way of life (raising a handful of cattle on their mini ranch with) being ruined on the land they admit the family stole from Native Americans.

[Sympthsical]

45. Isn't that just an Amazon warehouse?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

47. Lol.

[SheltieLover]

5. Beyond me

[Meadowoak]

35. Many basic cable plans, especially in the south, ONLY carry fox

[Xavier Breath]

3. Outrage porn, maybe?

[Gum Logger]

4. Dems, as Thomm Hartmann would say are boring.

For decades, the inside the beltway echo chamber are considered whiney, wonky and uninspired.

[Septua]

6. That is a remarkable statistic

I tune into Fox occasionally just to see which item of propaganda is on the menu for the hour or day. Three or four minutes is the limit of my watching endurance.

[hlthe2b]

7. Count me skeptical...Nielson data-- "fusion" or no--has a lot of limitations.

[Sympthsical]

9. These numbers have been consistent for years and years

It's the first thing I think of whenever Fox boycott is a topic (and make no mistake, I am all good with people boycotting cable news).

I always check around to see if anything's changed. Nope. You don't have to stick to only Nielsen. There are plenty of other surveys that reflect a similar reality.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1463761/frequency-of-watching-fox-news-in-the-us-by-politics/

A survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023 found that 41 percent of Republicans watched Fox News every day or a few times per week, compared to only 21 percent of Democrats.

Democrats are watching.

[NowsTheTime]

8. How can they be Democrats then?

[Meadowoak]

36. Probably all they have access to. Many basic cable packages

And senior plans only carry fox. MSNBC is a premium teir.

[allegorical oracle]

46. Have heard that many of the over-55 condos in Fla. still subscribe to cable. Residents have a

limited selection. A friend I know in that situation isn't even offered PBS as a choice.

[CTyankee]

10. Why make yourself miserable? things are bad enough.

I get fed up and go to read about a current art show or make myself happy finding a symphony playing Beethoven with all those crashing chords, or a choir singing Bach. You'd be surprised how the arts can lift your mood, make you happy or at least a bit more cheerful.

Try it (and let me know if it works OK for you)!

[Dave Id]

11. FOX or MSNBC

I don't watch either.

[Kali]

12. Lots of left youtubers get content by watching

I'm sure they aren't really a significant number but does illustrate motivation to watch beyond expected passive stupidity.

[Sympthsical]

14. Absolutely

Reaction videos drive a lot of traffic to the media they're platforming.

Any effective boycott has to include a total blackout by those attempting it.

But not only does Fox make money, Fox makes a lot of people who hate them money.

[Wonder Why]

13. Many years ago, when she was alive, my mom used to watch one of those idiot

commentator-like nutcases and all she ever did was tell me how much she hated him for his comments. I repeatedly suggested she not watch it but it never stopped her.

I guess some people watch or listen to shows just to keep up their dislike.

[Sympthsical]

16. My mom listened to Rush Limbaugh for years

One day, I got in the car with her, and there it was. It was so baffling, because she was a union Democrat until the day she died. Empathetic, liberal, a feminist. And I mean early, hard core for the 1950s and 60s. Joined the Army, then bought her own house and built a business and did not need a man to give her permission to do whatever the precise fuck she wanted.

So it was like . . . "Mom, wtf?!"

She said she found him entertaining.

[PSPS]

15. I remember making the same observation a few years ago

I remember seeing countless threads here on DU about boycotting various programs such as rush, fox, etc. But, at the same time, there would be a flood of outrage posts along the lines of, "did you see/hear what so-and-so said on their program?" followed, of course, with even more calls to "stop watching/listening" whatever was being mentioned.

I posted a comment along the lines of, "based on what I'm seeing here, these programs' ratings are largely boosted by DU members!"

[Kaleva]

33. Agree

[Journeyman]

17. In the early '60s, Lenny Bruce observed that liberals will buy anything a bigot writes . . .

You know? Liberals will buy anything a bigot writes. They really support it. George Lincoln Rockwell’s probably just a very knowledgeable businessman with no political convictions whatsoever. He gets three bucks a head working mass rallies of nothing but angry Jews shaking their fists and wondering why there are so many Jews there.

Take Bruce’s observations as you will. For me, it's disturbing to read such concrete confirmation of Bruce’s 60-year-old commentary as Sympthsical provides in this thread.

[Kingofalldems]

18. Should we give up?

[Sympthsical]

22. Hardly

I'm noting that one of the effective things to do, should one wish to boycott, is peel Democrats away from the channel first. One assumes Democrats will be more persuadable to turning it off. Telling Democrat streaming and content creators to stop platforming it would be a helpful strategy.

[Mysterian]

19. Fox "News" is comedy gold!

It's amazing how they keep straight faces while telling all those lies.

[pstokely]

20. people watch the Cowboys whatever their record

other teams don't get viewers even when they're playing well

[Silent Type]

23. Can't understand Democrats watching, but I am struck with how few people watch FOX. There are 150 Million

Last edited Sat May 17, 2025, 12:09 PM - Edit history (1)

people who voted in 2024 election. The viewership is miniscle in comparison, even for the leader FOX.

[Sympthsical]

26. I've never really understood the emphasis placed on cable news

The demo, ages 25-54, frequently hits the same numbers as someone's random cat video on YouTube.

No, I tell lies. Cat videos get far, far, far more viewers.

No one's watching this stuff except older people. The format is literally dying. So whenever there's a "Did you see what someone said?!" it's like, no. No one else saw it either. Literally no one else saw it.

Frankly, I'm baffled how they're able to pay the talent the amounts they do. Do pharmaceutical companies pay that much? On any other network, most of these shows would be cancelled after the first season.

I think it's a media/political circle jerk whose time has passed. Everyone gets paid for the mutual access and back scratching. It's not a healthy relationship in a democracy, IMO. The press should be adversarial to power, not busting out their wallets.

[Kaleva]

32. Yes, the number of people who watch Fox is relatively tiny

[womanofthehills]

41. Podcasts are where people now get news

Some podcasts average 10 to 40 million views. Even the less viewed ones get higher views than Fox. I saw another poll saying the average Fox viewer is 66 yrs old.

[Ping Tung]

24. I'm old enough to remember Walter Cronkite and others like him. Rather than the ShoBiz entertainers we have now.

[BigDemVoter]

27. Ewwww.

I am a nurse, and Fox has always been on in our lounge until I hid the remote control. . .

[mwmisses4289]

28. Watching to keep an eye on the opposition?

Always good to know what your opponents are up to.
And of course, the comedic gold that channel constantly comes up with, because of how ignorant they seem to want to appear.

[Faux pas]

29. I don't care who supposedly

did the "poll", I'm calling BULLSHIT.

[Kaleva]

31. The numbers are so small, it's inconsequential.

Less then 1% of Democrats

[Kaleva]

30. Which translates to 1% of registered D's watch Fox

Since a number of states don’t require a person to register, the percentage of all Dems who watch Fox is less then that.

[Sympthsical]

39. All of cable news is a small percentage of the population

Which is salient enough. But still. It's odd/funny that more watch Fox than MSNBC.

[Sneederbunk]

34. I don't mind some Dems watching Fox, but

I just wish they would not repeat what they see here.

[Iggo]

40. I don't know why some of you guys ever watch Fox.

But you do.

I do know why you stopped watching MSNBC, though. You been screaming about it for the last year or so. And good on you.

Now, statistics are a funny thing. Are the same amount of Dems watching Fox, while a lot fewer Dems are watching MSNBC because of the rage-quit? Or are there actually more Dems watching Fox now than there used to be?

[womanofthehills]

42. All the younger Dems are not into cable tv

Cable tv is boring compared to their phones.

[senseandsensibility]

43. So according to the stats you posted

the combined number of viewers watching either CNN or MSNBC is more than the number watching FAUX. Or put another way, more viewers are watching either a "moderate" network or a progressive one than a full out trump propaganda network. Not ideal, but I'll take it.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

48. Self reporting "Dems"?

How else would they know political affiliation?

But I'm sure MAGAts would never dream of impersonating Democrats and it's all very scientific and trustworthy, like Fox itself.

[SocialDemocrat61]

49. MSNBC is not on as many cable systems

as FAUX. So FAUX has a higher potential audience overall.