# Are the Midterms About to Be a Blowout Ratings Night for Cable News?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/are-the-midterms-about-to-be-a-blowout-ratings-night-for-cable-news/
- Published: 2026-11-04T00:27:31+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T07:52:23+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/midterm-elections-2026-cable-news-ratings-projections-1236747211/
- Topics: Elections, Politics

## Key points

- 2026 ratings will test whether midterms can draw 2018-sized audiences.
- All-network election-night viewers fell 30 per cent from 2018 to 2022.
- CNN and MSNBC saw bigger 2022 declines than Fox News.

## Summary

Cable news networks are hoping the 2026 midterm election draws the large audiences seen in 2018, when dramatic results and extensive broadcast coverage helped make it the century’s most-watched midterm election night. This year’s contest is being framed as higher stakes, with Donald Trump a central political presence, but the eventual ratings will show whether viewers tune in at a level closer to 2018 or 2022.

Across all linear networks, election-night coverage averaged 36.1 million viewers in 2018, compared with 25.43 million in 2022, a 30 per cent fall. Fox News, CNN and MSNBC together averaged 13.94 million viewers for the full night in 2018; in 2022, Fox had the smallest decline, while CNN’s total audience fell 47 per cent and MSNBC’s fell 32 per cent. The article says any post-election audience boost in 2022 was brief.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.