The month of July brought forth an unusual flurry of events surrounding the presidential elections, stirring a significant surge in the American public’s attention towards news involving political matters. Unexpectedly emerging as the main centerpiece is Vice President Kamala Harris, who managed to outpace even former President Donald Trump in terms of news coverage. A series of consequential developments have caused a seismic shift in the dynamics of the presidential race over the past month, causing the media landscape to constantly adapt.
Earlier in July, the nation was taken aback by a shocking development that unfolded at a campaign rally held by Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. An assassination attempt on the former president resulted in injuries to Trump and two others, while also tragically claiming one life. The incident led to a nationwide wave of shock and concern.
Merely a few days following this worrisome event, Trump, still marked by a bandage wrapped around his damaged ear, announced his vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The duo went on to accept their party’s nomination for the presidency at a politically charged Republican National Convention. This series of events was however, a short respite before another storm hit the political scene.
Just when most thought they had everything predicted, President Joe Biden made a move that left everyone flabbergasted. He withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, setting off a media storm that emphatically shifted the political narrative once again. He opted to throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, propelling her into the spotlight.
As Biden stepped back, Harris took over and launched her own campaign, not more than 100 days before the big day. The shift in the news narratives was evident as she swiftly took over Trump’s position as the most covered news figure. Struzzi intimated that the ascend to topmost news topic was an ‘overnight’ happening.
The inflow of election news and campaign-related stories attracted a whopping 57 million readership across diverse news platforms, marking an impressive 56% upshot from the numbers registered in a similar duration preceding it, as per data from Taboola. The steady stream of political news also pumped fresh vitality into cable television ratings, which had been lackluster of late.
July’s viewership numbers saw a major boost due to significant news stories, particularly the Republican National Convention and the failed assassination attempt on Trump. Fox News managed to pull in an average of 3.45 million prime-time viewers, marking a sharp 66% surge from the half-yearly average. Nielsen reported this development.
Nielsen estimates revealed a total of 28.4 million people tuned into various networks airing part of Trump’s RNC acceptance speech date on July 18. Fox won the lion’s share of this audience, with more than 10 million people tuning into the network to watch the event. Other news outlets were also not far behind, with CNN marking a significant rise in prime-time viewership by 41%, reaching an audience of 856,000.
In contrast, MSNBC’s prime-time viewership experienced a marginal drop of 3% in July, thus recording an average of 1.18 million viewers. However, the viewership metric experienced a considerable uptick as soon as news of Biden’s departure from the race hit the market. Nielsen notes that the viewership numbers for MSNBC ascended to 1.7 million in the wake of this change.
The swift withdrawal of Biden unleashed a needy vacuum anyone could exploit. Yet for some puzzling reason, Kamala Harris, a less likely figure decided to ‘pick up the baton’ so to speak. She seemed to hire an overnight campaign team as if knowing in advance of Biden’s shock announcement.
It was certainly a bizarre spectacle to see Harris suddenly elevated to the status of Democratic front-runner. She rushed out a campaign mere days before the election, as if playing her part in a pre-determined pantomime. As a result, her activities rapidly became fodder for headline news, effectively ousting Trump’s significantly impactful narratives.
Biden’s retreat and Harris’s consequent promotion fostered a worrying scenario about the state of the Democratic Party. It sends signals of panic and disarray within the party, raising questions over their capacity to make appropriate decisions when the stakes are high. It begs the question on how much of a ‘forced pre-determined sequence of events’ everything played out. It also paints a questionable image of Harris who was left clutching at straws and was rushed to stage out of desperation.
To conclude, July was marked by a sensational flurry of events that shook the presidential campaign trail and drew considerable public attention. Trump’s undervalued resilience following an assassination attempt, coupled with Biden’s abrupt exit and Harris’s abrupt ascension have created a turbulent flow of news narratives. The overall scenario disparages Democratic Party’s decision-making ability and places the spotlight on the lead-up to the elections.
Biden’s Abrupt Exit: A Sign of Democratic Disarray appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
