As his hush money trial in New York City was about to conclude, Donald Trump remained in the area to hold his recent political rally in Crotona Park in the borough of The Bronx on Thursday, May 23. Despite the campaign’s public estimates of crowd size (which announced it was 25,000 people), about a couple thousand had actually attended it, with many news organizations providing coverage. Newsmax saw a big ratings boost from the event.
Percentage-wise, in the 2020 election, the increase in Trump support was steepest in the Bronx — 15.7 percent versus 9.4 percent in 2016.
The right-leaning cable news outlets provided extensive coverage of Trump‘s Bronx rally. Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime was the top telecast on all of cable news for May 23 with 3.273 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, edging out the same network’s The Five (3.23 million) by just 53,000 viewers. It also delivered 313,000 within the key 25-54 demographic. Weeknight 8 pm editions of Watters from May 1-17 averaged 2.547 million viewers including 219,000 adults 25-54.
With the rally beginning at approximately 6:30 PM, Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier and The Ingraham Angle both saw significant upticks from their May (up to May 17) averages. Special Report grew 39 percent (2.878 million, to 2.065 million) in viewers and 54 percent in 25-54 (290,000, to 188,000); Ingraham up 40 percent (2.899 million, to 2.073 million) in viewers and 59 percent in 25-54 (280,000, to 176,000);
Over on Newsmax, the rally posted 993,000 viewers from 6:30-8 PM. It is the network’s most-watched telecast for 2024, to date, surpassing the 887,000 for Trump’s Mar. 9 rally.
