MSNBC has experienced a sharp decline in viewership following the re-election of Donald Trump, leading to one of the network’s lowest-rated Wednesdays in eight years.
The drop in audience has been significant, with MSNBC’s average weekday viewers plummeting by 40% to just 991,000 viewers on November 13, 2024. Primetime ratings also saw a dramatic dip, with popular shows like All In with Chris Hayes, Alex Wagner Tonight, and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell drawing only 929,000 viewers, down 43% from the network’s 2024 average of 1.6 million viewers.
In comparison, rival Fox News Channel pulled in a much larger audience, averaging 2.3 million viewers on the same day. MSNBC’s decline is notably stark when compared to its performance on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, when it had its smallest Wednesday viewership until now.
The left-wing network has been sharply critical of Trump for years, and this recent loss of viewers follows a turbulent election cycle marked by the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.
MSNBC hosts have expressed a mix of frustration and dismay at the election results. Stephanie Ruhle argued that Americans were “gambling with the country’s future” by electing Trump, while Claire McCaskill was visibly emotional on-air after Harris’ concession speech.
Jonathan Capehart also reflected on the divisive rhetoric from Trump’s campaign, calling it “openly hostile, openly racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and transphobic.” Joy Reid, known for her vocal criticism of Trump, even blamed Latino voters who supported him, suggesting they would now have to “own” the consequences.
Despite the ongoing news cycle surrounding Trump’s victory, it appears that MSNBC’s liberal audience is in search of a reprieve from the constant political commentary.