Election Night has been called “the Super Bowl for cable news,” as networks deploy countdown clocks and panel after panel of analysts. Because of its symbiotic relationship with Donald Trump, however, Fox News could experience a postgame hangover. Recent rating declines indicate that Trump-weary viewers and disaffected fans appear less inclined to watch their “team” lose. Fox News patriarch Rupert Murdoch, now 95, has always been a pragmatist when it comes to his beloved network and serving red meat to its audience. Yet as Trump’s act appears to have grown tired, even in the eyes of millions who voted for him, the network may be entering a perilous new phase.
Although Fox briefly distanced itself from Trump immediately after the 2020 election, the network scrambled back into his arms when MAGA loyalists tuned out, triggering a ratings slump and an internal panic that disgruntled Trump supporters would gravitate to other right-wing networks like Newsmax.
Fox’s daily audience has dropped a stark 27% over last year in October, its worst monthly performance in almost three years.
As it turned out, Newsmax’s inroads were short-lived, though Fox talents’ promotion of Trump’s 2020 election lies later led to a nearly $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Nevertheless, since then the cable news leader has generally sought to stay in Trump’s good graces. The favorable coverage, unsurprisingly, has included the parade of Fox alums in and out of the administration. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro are among more than two dozen personalities tapped by Trump, while former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly inked a contributor deal with Fox after exiting the job.
As many others have discovered, though, anything less than total fealty is insufficient for Trump, who has lashed out at Fox as his poll numbers have waned. With the president doing less “winning” than he claims, supporters seem to be averting their gaze. Fox’s daily audience has dropped a stark 27% over last year in October, its worst monthly performance in almost three years. Its primetime opinion shows have suffered a corresponding slump. By contrast, both MS NOW and CNN posted increases over last year as the election nears, though Fox still leads both networks by a comfortable margin.
Fox’s particular hurdles come amid broader challenges across the cable news sector. Media consumption patterns are changing, and millions of homes have cut the cord, reducing cable’s distribution reach. CNN is bracing for changes and cuts under new owner Skydance, and MS NOW is adjusting to a name change and life apart from NBC News.
After relying on Trump to drive viewer engagement, positive and negative, for more than a decade, all of cable news will have to grapple with a new playing field once he leaves the White House, his posturing about flouting the 22nd Amendment notwithstanding.
The network’s extraordinary access to Trump — an obsessive Fox News viewer even as he complains about it — is unique in American history.
Granted, Fox has weathered changes before and managed to thrive through Republican and Democratic administrations. Having just celebrated its 30th anniversary, the network has arguably been most successful — and exerted its greatest influence — when Democrats have been in power. It prospered during the Obama years by setting itself up as the voice of the opposition. While sagging ratings are surely worrisome, Fox starts, relatively speaking, from a position of strength.
Even so, the network’s extraordinary access to Trump — an obsessive Fox News viewer even as he complains about it — is unique in American history. Fox helped establish him as a political force prior to his 2016 presidential run, before losing control of its creation. And like the Republican Party, Fox’s future seems murkier without Trump’s hold on a key segment of its audience.
It’s a complicated relationship and, given the uncertain media landscape, fraught with risk. Beyond contemplating life without Trump on the ballot, every late-night Truth Social rant about Fox somehow betraying him threatens to fray the network’s vital tether to the MAGA faithful.
Like conservatives who denounced Trump after the Jan. 6 riot before retreating, Fox and Murdoch made a business decision to hitch the network to Trump’s wagon. That may have staved off disaster back in 2021, but Fox is nothing if not adaptable. And should viewers not return after the midterms, the network could face trying to avoid a “Thelma and Louise” scenario, where (spoiler alert!) two longtime friends, having stuck together through thick and thin, hold hands as they sail off a cliff.
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