Fox News sees dramatic drop in viewership as Trump approval tumbles ahead of midterms

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Cite

Keane, I. (2026, October 28). Fox News sees dramatic drop in viewership as Trump approval tumbles ahead of midterms. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fox-news-viewership-decline-trump-midterms-b3074997.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-10-28 · by Isabel Keane

Quick Summary

Fox News is experiencing a significant drop in viewership ahead of the midterm elections, with October 2026 marking its lowest ratings since December 2023. Total viewers have decreased by 27 percent compared to last year, and the key 25-54 age demographic has seen a 32 percent decline, averaging only 98,000 viewers—the lowest in 25 years. This trend coincides with President Donald Trump's declining approval ratings and suggests potential challenges for Republican candidates in upcoming elections.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-28, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of late October 2026, Fox News is experiencing a dramatic drop in viewership ahead of the midterms, with this month set to be its lowest-rated since December 2023. According to preliminary Nielsen ratings, Fox News averaged only 1.1 million total viewers throughout October, marking a 27 percent plunge from last year's figures. The coveted 25-54 age demographic saw an even steeper decline of 32 percent, averaging just 98,000 viewers, the lowest in 25 years for this group. Despite these declines, Fox News still outperforms other cable networks, including ESPN, and averages 3.8 million YouTube views per year, suggesting that younger audiences may be turning to online platforms for news. President Trump has criticized the network's coverage of Republican candidates and urged supporters to tune into a far-right network instead.

Written for “Trump Approval And Fox News Ratings Decline” on 2026-10-28, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans strongly left for article 112380 (high confidence, 3 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-28

Story

📰 Trump Approval And Fox News Ratings Decline
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 21% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Loves me, loves me not: Trump and allies target Fox News over coverage different event · 95%
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 9% hedged 5 of 53 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A discusses Trump and his allies criticizing Fox News for its coverage leading up to midterms, while Article B reports on a decline in Fox News viewership. These describe related but distinct occurrences.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
14
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
21%
3 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Isabel Keane
76 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Fox News’ viewership is set to hit historic lows ahead of the midterms, suggesting that conservatives may be tuning out ahead of the high-stakes elections — despite the GOP’s best efforts.
2026-10-28 · mixed framing · Fox News sees dramatic drop in viewership as Trump approval tumbles ahead of midterms
🔮 Baptist said in the suit that had he known he was not getting as much shrimp as was advertised, he wouldn’t have bought it.
2026-10-28 · mixed framing · Walmart sued for allegedly filling frozen fish containers with too much ice
🔮 Enten, who is CNN’s chief data analyst, noted that the number of House seats predicted to be won by Democrats had increased from 232 in August to 238 in October.
2026-10-26 · assertive framing · Trump’s favorite CNN pollster warns of a Democratic midterm ‘blowout’
🔮 While posing as the teen, the suspect told investigators that they were worried they may get mistaken for Makayla Craig, who is a registered sex offender out of Oregon.
2026-10-25 · mixed framing · A 29-year-old sex offender is accused of pretending to be a teen girl to enroll in high school
🔮 He estimated that repairs would likely cost between $30,000 and $50,000.
2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Not all heroes wear capes: Woman in banana costume goes viral for calling 911 after wreck
🔮 According to the report, police concluded their investigation into the incident that same day, saying they had no kitchen photos or video and could not establish probable cause.
2026-10-25 · speculative framing · 50 middle school students were served pretzels with oven cleaner as seasoning, lawsuit alleges
🔮 Sometimes you don’t know how someone will perform until they go out there,” she said.
2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Karoline Leavitt speaks out on successor Katie Zacharia’s shocking 5-day tenure as press secretary
🔮 And then I called the police and called the ambulances so they could help the driver,” Ahmed said.
2026-10-22 · assertive framing · Good Samaritan gets $1K reward for hopping on rolling school bus to save 18 kids
🔮 After the montage, Cooper noted that with midterm elections less than two weeks away, “there’s no telling where this might end up.”
2026-10-22 · assertive framing · Trump brutally mocked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper with on-air montage of president complimenting men’s bodies
🔮 A large majority of Americans believe that Trump will not accept the results of the midterms if Republicans suffer losses, according to a recent survey conducted by The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos.
2026-10-21 · assertive framing · Trump can’t stop talking about body of Ohio’s male senator even when campaigning in North Carolina
Also by Isabel Keane
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2026-10-26 · The Independent
Trump’s favorite CNN pollster warns of a Democratic midterm ‘blowout’
2026-10-26 · The Independent
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2026-10-26 · The Independent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 76 articles by Isabel Keane →

Topics

Fox Fox News Fox News’ Independent Nielsen

Subjects

Fox ORG · 3× Trump PERSON · 3× Fox News ORG · 2× Fox News’ ORG · 2× Independent NORP · 2× Nielsen ORG · 2× Senate ORG · 2× Truth Social ORG · 2× GOP ORG · 1× Status ORG · 1×

Narrative

“FoxNews is spending far too much time putting on the OPPONENTS of Republican Party Candidates, people that love our Country, and have Great Policies and Ideas,” Trump posted on Truth Social, later accusing the network of “trying too hard to be Politically Correct.” Trump has also complained when the network has cut coverage of his campaign rallies, urging supporters to tune in to the far-right network, Right Side Broadcast Network..
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28
🔮 Fox News’ viewership is set to hit historic lows ahead of the midterms, suggesting that conservatives may be tuning out ahead of the high-stakes elections — despite the GOP’s best efforts.
2026-10-28 · The Independent
Fox News sees dramatic drop in viewership as Trump approval tumbles ahead of midterms · mixed framing

Claims (14 extracted, 3 hedged)

Fox News’ viewership is set to hit historic lows ahead of the midterms, suggesting that conservatives may be tuning out ahead of the high-stakes elections — despite the GOP’s best efforts. uncertain
conservatives → set → efforts
This month is on track to be Fox News’ lowest-rated month since December 2023, with the network averaging 1.1 million total viewers throughout October 2026, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings obtained by Status ahead of their official release. uncertain
network → rat → release
The advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic saw its lowest-rated month in 25 years, averaging just 98,000 viewers, according to the report. uncertain
demographic → covet → report
The figures show a 27 percent plunge in total viewers, and a 32 percent decrease in the key 25-54 age demographic compared to last October. asserted
figures → show → October
Despite the drop in viewership, Fox News still has more viewers than all other cable networks, including sports broadcast giant ESPN. asserted
News → have → ESPN
The network also averages 3.8 million YouTube views per year, as many younger viewers get their news online. asserted
viewers → average → news
Still, Fox’s decline in viewership comes as President Donald Trump is also facing record-low approval ratings, potentially signaling trouble ahead for Republicans as polls show Democrats will likely gain seats in Congress come Election Day. asserted
Democrats → come → Day
It also comes as more liberal-leaning networks are seeing small increases in viewers, potentially indicating a shift in viewership. asserted
networks → come → viewership
MS NOW averages far fewer viewers than Fox, with about 588,000 a day. asserted
NOW → average → 588,000
However, that’s still an increase for the network, up 16 percent from this time last year. asserted
that → ’ → time
CNN, which also has fewer viewers, saw a small, 3 percent increase over the past year. asserted
which → have → year
The tumble in ratings also comes as Trump has grown sour on the conservative network, slamming Fox on Truth Social for airing interviews with Democratic candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, and Kentucky Senate candidate Charles Booker. asserted
who → come → Michigan
“FoxNews is spending far too much time putting on the OPPONENTS of Republican Party Candidates, people that love our Country, and have Great Policies and Ideas,” Trump posted on Truth Social, later accusing the network of “trying too hard to be Politically Correct.” Trump has also complained when the network has cut coverage of his campaign rallies, urging supporters to tune in to the far-right network, Right Side Broadcast Network.. asserted
network → spend → network
The Independent asked Fox News to comment on the Nielsen data. asserted
Independent → ask → data
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