GOP Debate TV Ratings Down, but Bigger Than Trump Rally

Trump was riffing on the topic of immigration during an event in New Hampshire on Friday morning – three days before the Iowa caucuses – when he once again brought up Cruz’s Canadian birth.

Attendees wait on line before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of a campaign stop, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, N.H.

The ironic part is that if this debate somehow lowers the buzz and enthusiasm around the primary and keeps caucus turnout low, it actually benefits Cruz, who is polling second behind Trump in Iowa.

“Chris, I would note that the last four questions have been, ‘Rand please attack Ted, ‘ ‘Marco please attack Ted, ‘ ‘Chris please attack Ted, ‘ ‘Jeb please attack Ted, ‘” Cruz said. But he’s an anchor baby. He managed to upstage the debate to a certain extent, dominating Twitter mentions and Google searches during the event.

He attacked Cruz throughout his speech in Nashua, New Hampshire, including on the issue of whether Cruz is eligible to run for the presidency. “Donald Trump has chosen not to attend”, said Megyn Kelly, moderator.

That prediction, of course, proved way off the mark, even if Fox News didn’t hit the lofty viewership it had in the opening debate August 6 in Cleveland.

Trump also said he would’ve “in theory” rather have been at the Republican debate Thursday night. Her sentiments were echoed by multiple candidates, including Ted Cruz who called everyone else “ugly” in his opening statement and asserted his masculinity in order to “get the Trump portion out of the way”.

Instead, Trump he held his own rally in Iowa at the same time, which he promoted as a way to raise money for charity.

CNN and C-SPAN were among the networks that broadcast Trump’s gathering, which started at the same time his GOP rivals were taking the debate stage.

Donald Trump’s attempt to derail Thursday’s GOP debate was unsuccessful, at least from a ratings perspective.

“That won’t happen-first of all, I don’t think the network would go along with that”, Sullivan said there are still a lot of candidates in the race and a lot could change when the polls open in Iowa on Monday.