Harris sets a new record through her Fox Interview
Kamala Harris dared to step into Fox News' lion's den to give an interview. This confrontation on the network once associated with Donald Trump has captured the attention of many Americans. At least one ambition of the U.S. presidential candidate seems to be fulfilled.
Over 7.8 million viewers tuned into Harris' interview on Fox News on a Wednesday, with the number growing to around 9.2 million viewers after repeat screenings. The roughly 30-minute back-and-forth between Harris and moderator Bret Baier surpassed every other televised interview of Harris' campaign in terms of ratings.
This included the CBS News "60 Minutes" interview which drew an average of 5.7 million viewers, the CNN interview with 6.3 million viewers, the MSNBC interview with 1.8 million viewers, "The View" with 3.1 million viewers, and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on CBS with a median of 2.9 million viewers.
Harris only surpassed her ratings in the debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump (67.1 million viewers) and her acceptance speech after the nomination (28.9 million viewers).
Baier pushed Harris hard in the highly anticipated interview, peppering her with questions on immigration and addressing various government blunders. Harris persistently requested to complete her responses whenever Baier disrupted her during the interview. Harris' intent behind the interview was to connect with the conservative viewership of the network, often portraying her in a negative light.
Meanwhile, a Fox News panel discussion featuring Trump's responses to viewer questions attracted 2.9 million viewers on the same Wednesday. With both the Harris interview and Trump's discussion, Fox News managed to gather around 12 million viewers in total. For context, Fox News averaged 1.571 million and 2.641 million daily viewers during prime time in the third quarter of 2024.
Despite Fox News' historical association with former President Donald Trump, Kamala Harris decided to appear on the network for an interview, aiming to reach its conservative audience. During the interview, Harris' ratings surpassed her performances in other high-profile appearances, including her debate against Trump and her acceptance speech. Interestingly, Trump also drew a significant audience with his own Fox News appearance on the same day.
