Liberal-leaning cable news network MSNBC has been axing some of its top on-air talent for the past few weeks due to declining ratings and revenues.
In the wake of massive staff changes at the network, long time host and network star Rachel Maddow continues to be the face of the network.
But for how long?
That’s because according to new numbers, her once-popular show’s ratings are sinking faster than the Titanic — all because of President Donald Trump.
According to new data, Maddow has lost roughly 25% of her viewers since President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Accoring to reports, in total “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 2.3 million viewers from the start of 2024 until Election Day but has shed 22% for an average audience of 1.8 million from Trump’s victory through March 7.
The decline is even more dramatic among the advertiser-voted demographic of adults aged 25-54, as “The Rachel Maddow Show” has lost 29% in the critical category when comparing her post-Election Day audience to 2024’s total before Trump’s decisive win over then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Maddow has also dropped 24% among both total viewers and the key demo when comparing the first two months of 2025 to her audience during the first two months of 2024, indicating that MSNBC viewers aren’t as interested as they were when former President Biden occupied the White House.
This is not the first time that MSNBC viewers fled Maddow’s primetie program due to a Trump victory.
Maddow, an early leader of the #Resistance, dedicated much of the first two years of the previous Trump administration hyperventilating over whether or not he colluded with Russia.
However, Special Counsel Robert Mueller eventually concluded in 2019 that a Trump campaign-Russia conspiracy didn’t exist, contradicting Maddow’s primetime narrative.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” quickly lost viewers when the Mueller report was released on April 18, 2019, shedding 22% of its total audience and 35% among the key demo during the first four months following the report compared to the three months prior to its release.
TV experts say Maddow built her following on “anti-Trump mania” by “feeding hope among her viewers that their suffering would be alleviated” by Trump losses, which has led to her up-and-down viewership and inconsistent ratings.
“It’s not surprising that an audience built around the promise of defeating Trump would significantly fade away when Trump won,” Cornell Law School professor and longtime media critic William Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
It should be noted that Maddow eventually bounced back from the Mueller-related decline and has improved her recent totals since Trump officially took office.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 1.4 million total viewers and 105,000 in the demo from Election Day until the eve of Inauguration Day but has managed an average audience of 1.9 million total viewers and 177,000 in the demo since Trump was sworn in as the 47th president, according to Fox News reports.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha noted that Maddow she still rates “better by far than any other MSNBC host.”
Maddow is set to return to only hosting her program once a week in April, reportedly making $25 million per year for the small programming deal.
Maddow recently made headlines after she scolded her employer on-air over news that production staffers would be laid off as part of company-wide reshuffling.
After her on-air criticism of MSNBC management, many Maddow critics noted that she could have offered to save a few jobs by volunteering to take a pay cut.
“Her annual salary is roughly equivalent to the combined salary of about—go figure—125 production staffers,” Puck’s Dylan Byers wrote.