U.S. Politics · Elections · 7 outlets (L 6 · C 1 · R 0)
Fox News viewership plunging to historic lows ahead of midterms
Fox News is on track to post its lowest-rated month in total day viewers in years, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings obtained by the media newsletter Status ahead of their official release.[1, 5, 6] Raw Story reported that October 2026 will be Fox News' lowest-rated month since December 2023.[5] PoliticusUSA reported that MS NOW and CNN's ratings have gone up in October while Fox News' viewership has dropped, as Republicans appear to be tuning out the midterm election.[4]
Raw Story attributed the decline to fallout from Donald Trump's faltering popularity.[5] Separately, Fox News' latest Power Rankings noted that more races have shifted in the Democrats' direction this week, according to HuffPost.[3]
Why it matters The drop comes just before the midterm elections, when networks would normally see higher viewership, according to Raw Story.[5]
Covered by AlterNet, Bloomberg, Daily Kos and 4 more
Read first Fox News Viewer Dip Before Election May Signal Republican Unease
How balanced is this coverage?
Of the 7 rated outlets that covered it, 6 are left of center, 1 is center and 0 are right of center.
- Left: none.
- Leans left: Daily Kos (−1.22), AlterNet (−1.16), PoliticusUSA (−1.16), HuffPost (−1.06), Raw Story (−0.94), The Daily Beast (−0.64).
- Center: Bloomberg (+0.08).
- Leans right: none.
- Right: none.
Each dot is an outlet that covered it, placed by its audience-lean score (Eady et al. 2025), which measures who shares its links, not how accurate it is. The ticks under the line are all 113 rated outlets Tare reads.
Read across the spectrum
- Left-leaning Fox News ratings suffering 'eye-popping decline' as audience loses interest in Trump: data
- Center Fox News Viewer Dip Before Election May Signal Republican Unease
- Right-leaning No right-leaning outlet in Tare's list covered it.