Donald Trump has predicted that his midterm convention in Dallas last week will give a major boost to his party in November’s midterm elections—despite the fact voters largely ignored it.
“The Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas was a solidly sold out winner for Republicans,” the 80-year-old president posted on Truth Social on Monday evening. “Also, great Views and Ratings. Should have a big impact on November 3rd.”
The GOP event, held on Wednesday and Thursday last week, was meant to shore up support for the party in the coming race for control of the House and Senate. Trump’s war on Iran, a cost-of-living crisis, and a slew of high-profile scandals have handed Democrats a 7-point lead with voters, according to the latest survey.
The president wrote a similar post on Friday. He said then that streaming had brought in “really big numbers” and that “the overall numbers beat the NFL.” He added that the venue “beat its own attendance records,” with “thousands of people” watching on screens outside because they “couldn’t get in.”
Daily Beast reporters at the convention saw rows of empty seats on the venue’s upper level. They also noted that organizers had texted out offers of “FREE TICKETS” in the final hours before doors opened on Wednesday, and that there were no signs of a crowd of “thousands” watching outside.
Viewing figures for Fox News show just 2.5 million people tuned in to watch Trump’s keynote address on Wednesday night, a below-average audience for that time slot on the network. Other mainstream outlets, like CNN and MS NOW, did not televise his speech that night or on Thursday. Those that did, including Newsmax, OAN, and C-SPAN, do not ordinarily reach the same viewership as Fox.
Streaming also appears to have fallen short of the president’s boasts. The GOP’s official channel brought in just 50k people, while screenshots circulating online suggest engagement hovered between the hundreds and low thousands on livestreams from ABC News, The Hill, and Rightside Broadcasting Network.
By contrast, around 25.1 million people watched Wednesday’s NFL season opener between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, which aired at the same time as Trump’s keynote. Media analytics group Nielsen released those figures on Monday, two days after Trump claimed to have beaten them.
Voters still favor Democrats over Republicans by 44 percent to 37 percent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday. Trump’s midterm convention performance appears to have given his own ratings a minor boost from 33 percent to 35 percent, bringing him back from his lowest-ever rating of either term to just marginally above where he stood in the aftermath of the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
