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Tucker 2024? Fox News Star Headlining Major Iowa GOP Event

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


The mainstream media is floating around the idea that Fox News host Tucker Carlson may be gearing up for a 2024 presidential run.

Carlson will headline the 2022 Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa this July.

The Family Leader is a conservative Chrisitan political organization, with some of the biggest names in Republican politics attending the annual gathering.

Last year, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem attended the event.

The announcement that Carlson would address the summit quickly gained a lot of attention on Twitter from mainstream media reporters.

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“Tucker Carlson heading to Iowa, home of the presidential caucuses, this summer. This particular group’s gathering has long been an event attended by Republicans with presidential ambitions,” wrote CBS News’ Robert Costa.

“Tucker Carlson is appearing at the Family Leader Summit in Iowa, a typically influential political forum in Iowa GOP politics ahead of presidential cycles,” noted the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman.

Author Bakari Sellers commented, “I’ve told anyone who’d listen he’s a dark horse for the GOP nomination. You put bigotry in a brooks brothers suit, you have a chance.”

Shane Goldmacher, a national politics reporter at the New York Times, jested, “The old saying that no one winds up in Iowa by accident…”

However, journalist David Freedlander poured cold water on the idea of Carlson running for president in 2024.

“Before everyone gets too excited, just take a breath: no way someone gives up a lucrative TV bid to run for president, especially considering that they would have their finances and personal life examined in way they haven’t been before. Guy’s never been elected to anything!” he tweeted.

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There’s no indication that Carlson has any plans to run for president in 2024.

He’s merely headlining the Summit this summer at an event where prospective Republicans typically attend the annual gathering.

Beyond that, Carlson has many reasons to stay at Fox News given his primetime show smashed another key barrier.

Television viewership data released by Nielsen/MRI Fusion reveals that Carlson’s show is the number one most-watched show among Democrats in the key demographic of 25-54 year-olds.

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“The data, from the month of October, showed that Carlson pulled in 101,000 viewers who self-identified as Democrats in the 25-54 demographic. MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and Fox’s “The Five” were tied for second place, each attracting 88,000 viewers in the key demo who self-identified as Democrats. The next two spots are occupied by Sean Hannity, who took in 81,000 young Democrat viewers, and Greg Gutfeld, who pulled 73,000,” the Daily Wire reported.

“Maddow still has a significant advantage in total Democratic viewership, pulling in a total of 908,000 viewers across all age groups. “The Five” pulled in the second most, with 732,000 viewers who identified themselves as Democrats, and Carlson followed close behind with 722,000 total Democrats. Hannity and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell rounded out the top five, with Hannity garnering 623,000 Democrat viewers, and O’Donnell taking 607,000,” the report added.

“As a network, Fox News owns the majority of cable news airtime around the clock. Fox takes in 56% of total primetime viewership, and 55% of daytime viewership. Fox also leads CNN and MSNBC among Independents and even pulls in a plurality of Democrats. Fox pulled in a total of 58% of all Independents who watched cable news, while MSNBC garnered 25% and CNN got just 17%. Fox was number one among self-identified Democrats, with 39% of total viewership, MSNBC came just in second place with 38%, and CNN fell behind with just 24%,” the report detailed.

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