MAGA-Coded CBS Anchor Suffers Another Brutal Ratings Hit

Media admin August 25, 2026 0 Comments

MAGA-Coded CBS Anchor Suffers Another Brutal Ratings Hit

CBS’s MAGA-coded anchor Tony Dokoupil is having a hard time getting his ratings up.

Dokoupil, 45, recorded yet another measly viewership total for the week of August 10, according to Nielsen data obtained by Adweek.

The data showed that CBS Evening News dropped to an average of 3.875 million total viewers per episode, which was down 120,000 viewers—about three percent—from the week before. The program remained below the 4-million-viewer benchmark that’s essential to advertisers.

The program’s average total viewership was nearly half of the recorded average for NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas, which recorded 6.61 million total viewers, and only about 44 percent of ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, which boasted 8.44 million.

Dokoupil’s numbers for the week were similar to those recorded by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson during their brief stint co-anchoring the show last year, which averaged around four million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Evening News viewership rose slightly in the key 25-54 age demographic prized by advertisers, up a paltry one percent from the week before to 521,000 viewers. But it was still dwarfed by its two rivals; NBC recorded 999,000 in the demographic, while ABC had 1.16 million.

Adweek reported that Evening gained one percent total viewers compared to this week in 2025 but stayed flat in the demographic. Meanwhile, NBC jumped 16 percent total and 29 percent in the demographic, while ABC jumped 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.

Since his MAGA-curious boss, Bari Weiss, handed him the reins to the legendary news program, Dokoupil has struggled to capture the same reputability and watchability the program had in its golden era under Walter Cronkite.

The anchor’s broadcasts have likely suffered because they’re seen as reflecting the network’s Donald Trump-friendly approach under Weiss, whom Trumpy Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison installed as the head of CBS News last October.

Critics have sounded off on Dokoupil sounding more like a White House mouthpiece than an objective news anchor, pointing toward his failure to fact-check Trump and his awkward praise of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Weiss also launched a massive rework of the network’s flagship news magazine 60 Minutes—firing a handful of the program’s longtime producers, editors, and correspondents.

The new program, led now by executive producer Nick Bilton, will return in September for its 59th season without three of its seven correspondents—Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, who were pushed out by Weiss, and Anderson Cooper, who left on his own accord.