Harris Crushes Donald Trump by 22% in Convention Speech Ratings: Millions More Tune In to Watch
Newly released TV ratings for Kamala Harris’ Democratic National Convention speech have shown a significant victory in viewership over Donald Trump’s address during the Republican National Convention, a fact that is likely to leave Trump fuming.
According to data that combined viewership from seven major networks that carried Harris’ historic nomination acceptance speech, she earned a rating of 15, which is notably higher than Trump’s rating of 12.3 from his speech last month. This translates into a staggering 22 percent difference in viewership, as reported by Michael Mulvihill, a prominent analyst at Fox who first released the figures.
In the world of primetime television, a gap of this magnitude means that millions more viewers across the country tuned in to watch Harris take the stage and deliver her powerful remarks, securing a clear media win in a high-stakes moment for both parties. Given that TV ratings are often used as a benchmark for political reach and influence, this boost in numbers is not just a statistical victory for Harris but also a symbolic one, marking her as a major contender in the national spotlight.
The larger audience Harris attracted demonstrates widespread interest in her candidacy and the Democratic platform, further raising the stakes for Trump as the two parties battle for public attention leading up to the election.
Kamala Harris celebrated with her husband Doug Emhoff after her big speech. Thursday was also their tenth wedding anniversary.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
The final night of the DNC averaged 26.2 million viewers across 15 networks, with Harris’ speech bringing in 28.9 million viewers, according to industry research firm Nielsen. Night four of the convention was the most viewed, with viewership up 30 percent from the previous nights. (Exactly how many of those viewers were expecting Beyoncé remains unclear.)
Trump himself was among those watching. He posted a bizarre “play by play” of Harris’ speech to Truth Social, where he nitpicked the specifics of his opponent’s words. After she left the stage, Trump made equally unhinged calls to Fox News, who cut him off after 10 minutes, and to Newsmax.
Trump has long been obsessed with ratings, going back to his days as a big name in reality TV. Ratings were even top of mind for Trump last weekend when Rolling Stone reported he told aides there was no chance the RNC’s “tremendous” viewership numbers could be topped by the DNC.
Melania Trump made the trip to Wisconsin last month to stand alongside her husband on stage at the RNC.
Mike Segar/Reuters
That prediction proved to be wrong, with the DNC besting the RNC’s viewership totals for each day.
On Wednesday, for example, Nielsen’s data showed the RNC attracted about 17.9 million viewers on the night that featured a primetime speech from JD Vance. Democrats pulled in 11 percent more on the third day of the DNC, which included a speech from Tim Walz.
The first two nights of the conventions had similar disparities. The opening night of the DNC had 20 million viewers, while the RNC pulled in 18.1 million. For day two, 20.8 million people tuned into the DNC, while just 14.8 million flipped on the TV to watch Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis take the stage.
Likely rubbing salt in the wound for Trump was the reported top market for Harris’ speech on day four: West Palm Beach, Florida—next door to his estate at Mar-a-Lago.
