As the presidential race transitions from the Iowa caucus to the New Hampshire primary, the candidates are ramping up their public appearances to help garner support, with Nikki Haley making appearances, and Ron DeSantis dropping out of the race. However, one of the previously planned public events did not take place.
Following the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus, former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley declined an invitation to a scheduled Jan. 18 debate in New Hampshire (that had been slated to air on the ABC network), citing she would only participate if she were debating Donald Trump or President Joe Biden.
Republican frontrunner Trump has yet to take part in any of the debates thus far in this election cycle and was not going to be present for this one either.
Without Trump nor Haley, ABC canceled that debate.
Instead, on Jan. 18, Haley appeared for a New Hampshire town hall on CNN. Hosted by Jake Tapper, Haley’s town hall posted 819,000 viewers including approximately 171,000 (more exact data, to come) within the key 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. In addition, CNN’s post-town hall analysis averaged 670,000 viewers and about 159,000 adults 25-54 from 10:10-11 PM Eastern.
Among the non-Trump town halls to air on CNN within the past calendar year, only one other town hall drew a larger total audience than Haley on Jan. 18: former GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie from June 12, 2023, with 1.347 million viewers. The caveat for that summer night being more heavily watched was due to what was to come on the following day (June 13): Donald Trump arriving in Miami to be arraigned on federal charges for the possession of classified documents.
Nikki Haley outdrew even herself from June 4 (562,000 viewers).
Just two days prior to Haley’s New Hampshire event, the now-former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis also held a CNN town hall (on Jan. 16) which drew 579,000 viewers but delivered a similar demo performance in 25-54 (~171,000) as Haley.
Even though these figures are above-average for CNN in primetime, Fox News Channel has drawn bigger total audiences for its town halls this year, as evidenced during the previous week, prior to the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus: the 6 p.m. town halls of DeSantis from Jan. 8 (2.166 million total/256,000 adults 25-54) and Haley from Jan. 9 (2.248 million total/241,000 adults 25-54), and the controversial Trump town hall at 9 p.m. on Jan. 10 (4.426 million total/576,000 adult 25-54) that took place directly opposite a CNN Haley-DeSantis debate that evening.
