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5d ago

Trump’s State of the Union Draws 32.6 Million TV Viewers, Lowest of His Presidency

Nielsen’s final Big Data + Panel tally reflects Fox News leading individual networks with an older-skewing audience.

President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
President Donald Trump applauds with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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Overview

  • The final Nielsen estimate across 15 networks put the audience at 32.6 million, down from about 36.6 million for last year’s address to Congress.
  • Fox News drew about 9.1 million viewers to lead all channels, with ABC atop broadcast at roughly 5.1 million; NBC averaged 3.6 million, CBS 3.3 million, MS Now 2.4 million, CNN 2.2 million, and the Fox broadcast network 2.1 million.
  • Viewership skewed heavily older, with about 23.6 million viewers aged 55 and over, compared with roughly 6 million aged 35–54 and 2 million aged 18–34.
  • The speech lasted approximately 107 minutes, marking the longest State of the Union on record.
  • Preliminary live-plus-same-day counts on a smaller set of outlets were around 28 million, and FOX News Media separately reported a combined 11.5 million across its properties.