Here’s How Donald Trump Is Denting the Fox News Brand

By Chris Ariens 

GOP front-runner Donald Trump has tarnished the Fox News brand among Republicans.

According to YouGov’s BrandIndex, from mid-January–just before Trump backed out of the second Fox News debate–until mid-February, FNC’s perception by Republican adults 18+ had declined by -60 percent (from 36 to 14), to its lowest point in 3 years.

Going back even further: on January 1, 2013, FNC’s Buzz score with Republican adults 18+ was 49. By the first GOP debate last August–when Trump’s battles with Fox began–the score had dropped to 38. By February 12, it was down to 14. Currently their Buzz score is 17. (Shown in the the first chart, below.)

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As you can see in the second chart, both FNC and CNN are scoring at similar perception levels, overall. And both are negative.

While the perception of Fox News may be down, it’s not hurting in the ratings in the least. The channel has been the No. 1 cable network for last 5 weeks in a row, a streak that hasn’t been seen in 13 years.

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YouGov BrandIndex interviews 4,300 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than 2 million individuals.

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