Yes, NFL Viewership Is Down. No, It’s Not All Trump.
The decline in football ratings probably has more to do with structural shifts in media than any protests or presidential tweeting.
Puerto Rico is in ruins, North Korea is threatening to drop hydrogen bombs, Obamacare’s repeal is slipping back into the grave from which it rose, and tax reform is languishing in Congress. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has tweeted 25 times since Saturday about NFL ratings and the right of athletes to kneel during the national anthem.
The president, whose fixation with attendance has been obvious from literally the second that he became president, has repeatedly said the NFL’s ratings were “WAY DOWN” due to protests. He even took personal credit for the league’s declining viewership.
Is the president right? Yes and no. , in that there, since it’s not clear that either the president or the protests are the primary culprit.
