CNN viewing record

Harris town hall sets CNN viewing record

By MATTHEW CHOI

The televised town hall with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) set a CNN viewing record, the network said Tuesday.

The event, moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday night in Des Moines, Iowa, averaged 1.957 million views — the most for a single-candidate town hall in the network's history, and 75 percent above its four-week average in the 10 p.m slot, CNN said in a news release, citing Nielsen ratings. Monday's average of 712,000 viewers aged 25-45 eclipsed its competitors in that key demographic: MSNBC had 404,000 during the same hour, while Fox News had 395,000.

The highest-rated single-candidate town hall on cable news among all viewers was in August 2016, when 2.7 million people watched Donald Trump on Fox News, a little more than two months before he was elected.

The town hall allowed Harris to outline her platform as she vies for her party’s presidential nomination. Harris officially announced her candidacy Sunday and entered a potentially crowded field, from veteran Democrats like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to newer faces on the national stage like Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana.

During the event, Harris laid out several policy objectives, including an endorsement of a “Green New Deal” to combat climate change, calling the issue an “existential threat.” Harris also castigated the Trump administration for its handling of undocumented immigrants and the president’s fight for a border wall, accusing the president of playing with the lives of undocumented immigrants for political gain.

Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, also defended her record in law enforcement, which has been criticized by some more liberal elements of the Democratic Party for being too tough on crime. Harris said she had been “consistent my whole career” and that she had worked to reform the criminal justice system, listing initiatives she’s taken to improve accountability among California law enforcement.