2019 Town Hall Ratings: Fox News-Sen. Bernie Sanders Is Most-Watched, While CNN-Sen. Kamala Harris Is No. 1 Among Adults 25-54

There are still 17 months until Election Day 2020, but Democratic party candidates and networks have been coming together for televised town halls since January. In addition to former vp Joe Biden (who has yet to do a televised town hall) polls show Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and California Senator Kamala Harris as being two of the early front runners for the party nomination. The ratings for their town halls show something similar. Sen. Harris was featured on the first CNN Town Hall of 2019 (held on January 28). That town hall happens to be CNN's most-watched of the year to-date, both in total viewers (1.95 million) and among the key A25-54 demo (708,000). The town hall took place not long after Sen. Harris announced her candidacy, and as you'll see below, the two most popular town hall broadcasts of the year to-date among the demo feature Sen. Harris. Fox News has gotten into the act of hosting town halls for Democratic presidential candidates as well, much to the chagrin of many on the left. One town hall has stood out above the rest, and that's the Fox News’ Town Hall on April 16 featuring Sen. Sanders. That Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. town hall averaged more than 2.5 million total viewers, the largest audience of any televised town hall of the 2020 Democratic primary season. One week after Fox News-Sen. Sanders town hall was CNN's big town hall night, with the network presenting four consecutive hours of CNN Town Halls featuring 2020 candidates. Sen. Amy Klobuchar kicked things off in the 7 p.m. hour, with Pete Buttigieg closing the series in the 11 p.m. hour. MSNBC has hosted a handful of town halls in recent weeks. Being the left-leaning network it is (at least in prime time), one should safely assume MSNBC will be broadcasting many more as the year continues. However, Fox News will host the next televised town hall on Thursday June 13, featuring former U.S. secretary of housing and urban development Julián Castro. Special Report’s Bret Baier and The Story’s Martha MacCallum will moderate that hour-long town hall live from Arizona at 6:30 p.m. ET. Here's a run down of the cable news town halls in 2019 to-date (through June 5). The list is sorted by most to least-watched in total viewers. Date: Network | Time | Candidate | Total Viewers / A25-54 Viewers April 16: Fox News | 6:30 p.m. | Sen. Bernie Sanders | 2,554,000 / 489,000 May 28: MSNBC | 10 p.m. | Sen. Kamala Harris | 2,209,000 / 307,000 June 5: MSNBC | 8 p.m. | Sen. Elizabeth Warren | 1,967,000 / 310,000 January 28: CNN | 10 p.m. | Sen. Kamala Harris | 1,954,000 / 708,000 June 3: MSNBC | 7 p.m. | Pete Buttigieg | 1,645,000 / 189,000 May 8: Fox News | 6:30 p.m. | Sen. Amy Klobuchar | 1,608,000 / 235,000 April 23: CNN | 10 p.m. | Sen. Kamala Harris | 1,440,000 /496,000 April 23: CNN | 9 p.m. | Sen. Bernie Sanders | 1,336,000 / 457,000 April 23: CNN | 8 p.m. | Sen. Elizabeth Warren | 1,180,000 / 332,000 April 23: CNN | 11 p.m. | Pete Buttigieg | 1,179,000 / 389,000 June 13: Fox News | 6:30 p.m. | Julián Castro | 1,131,000 / 194,000 May 19: Fox News | 7 p.m. | Pete Buttigieg | 1,110,000 / 172,000 April 23: CNN | 7 p.m. | Sen. Amy Klobuchar | 869,000 / 183,000 June 2: Fox News | 7 p.m. | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | 834,000 / 92,000 May 21: CNN | 10 p.m. | Beto O'Rourke | 719,000 / 196,000 April 11: CNN | 10 p.m. | Julián Castro | 654,000 / 174,000 April 10: CNN | 10 p.m. | Gov. Jay Inslee | 549,000 / 186,000 April 9: CNN | 10 p.m. | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | 507,000 / 122,000 May 30: CNN | 10 p.m. | Sen. Michael Bennet | 489,000 / 136,000 June 2: CNN | 8 p.m. | Rep. Eric Swalwell | 401,000 / 85,000 June 2: CNN | 7 p.m. | Rep. Tim Ryan | 374,000 / 84,000 June 2: CNN | 6 p.m. | Rep. Seth Moulton | 368,000 / 92,000 April 14: CNN | 7 p.m. | Andrew Yang | 319,000 / 96,000 April 14: CNN | 6 p.m. | Marianne Williamson | 316,000 / 83,000

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2019 Town Hall Ratings: Fox News-Sen. Bernie Sanders Is Most-Watched, While CNN-Sen. Kamala Harris Is No. 1 Among Adults 25-54

A.J. Katz

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A.J. Katz