Disney-owned ABC Television's “World News Tonight” host David Muir may have alienated some viewers after he angered conservatives during last week's presidential debate.
Muir with co-host Lindsay Davis Fact-checking former President Trump Many conservatives said the debate was not fair because Davis failed to correct Vice President Kamala Harris' comments five times. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called for a correction after Davis said an abortion claim she made while fact-checking Trump during the debate was “100% inaccurate.”
Muir's “World News Tonight” averaged 7.6 million viewers in 2024 prior to the debate, but averaged 6.7 million viewers for the three broadcasts after the debate on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“World News Tonight's” 12% drop in viewership is more significant when comparing ABC's three post-debate broadcasts to its year-to-date totals than the smaller declines for “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News,” although Muir's show still retained its No. 1 spot among evening news programs.
It's unclear whether Trump supporters stopped watching ABC's news program immediately after the debate, but the former president slammed it as “one-sided.” Trump told Fox News that Harris should have been fact-checked on various claims.
“They should all have been interrogated by David Muir, who I have lost a lot of respect for. Everybody has lost respect for him,” Trump said last week.
“It was very… one-sided,” he continued. “It was one against three.”
In a post-debate interview, Davis acknowledged that her fact-checking of Trump was inspired by the CNN debate. Disastrous results for President Biden In June.
“People are just shocked at the mere publication of the statement. [be] Then-candidate Biden and the moderators raised objections.” Davis said. Los Angeles Times last week.
On Sunday, ABC News' Martha Raddatz pointed out that Harris was incorrect when she said that “there is not a single U.S. military member serving on active duty in a combat zone in any war zone anywhere in the world.”
“Our fact checkers have confirmed that to be false,” Raddatz said.
“Right now, we have 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq, where they've been under constant drone and missile threat for months. We're also operating in the Red Sea,” Raddatz continued. “And on any given day, we have Navy SEALs and Delta Force special forces potentially taking part in deadly raids of all kinds.”
Muir and Davis failed to correct Harris' comments in front of the debate's audience of approximately 70 million people.
Fox News Digital's Hannah Panrec contributed to this report.
