Feb 6, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Trump's State of the Union gets lowest ratings since he took office

President Trump delivers the State of the Union address flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Roughly 37.2 million people tuned in to watch President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday, according to Nielsen — the fewest number of people that have tuned into the yearly address so far during his presidency.

Why it matters: The event happened amid an already chaotic news cycle surrounding the president's impeachment trial and the Iowa causes. Axios has reported that generally, viewers are beginning to tune out of lots of political storylines, due mostly to saturation.

Be smart: Like most television viewership these days, the vast majority of the viewers of this year's address came from those age 55+.

  • To no surprise, Fox News by far had the biggest audience. The network has consistently led in overall cable news ratings for many years.

By the numbers:

  • 2019: 46,789,000 million
  • 2018: 45,551,000 million
  • 2017: 47,741,000 million

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