Abdul El-Sayed Interview Delivers Ratings Win for Fox News

Abdul El-Sayed’s politics may not resonate with many Fox News viewers, but his appearance on Jesse Watters’ program proved to be a ratings winner.

Watters’ interview with the Michigan Senate candidate drew 3.3 million viewers Monday night, making it the most-watched program in primetime television. It outperformed every show on ABC, NBC, and CBS. Nearly 300,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic tuned in.

El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Aug. 4 Democrat primary. Stevens had the backing of many establishment Democrats, who feared that El-Sayed’s socialist views would be a harder sell for voters.

Republican Mike Rogers, a former Michigan congressman, will face El-Sayed in November.

The contentious 25-minute interview covered a range of topics, including immigration, the economy, and a testy exchange about sex change surgeries. Clips from the interview quickly spread on social media, helping fuel interest in the appearance.

“You want to bring up all this culture war,” El-Sayed said at one point. “I’m not here to fight a culture war. I’m here to fight the affordability crisis that people are facing.”

The interview also touched on religion. El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, pushed back after Watters asked about Sharia law.

“I don’t know why the idea that I could practice my faith as I choose is a problem,” El-Sayed told Watters. “Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else.”

Viewers stayed engaged throughout the interview. The program’s first half-hour attracted nearly 3.7 million viewers, including 332,000 adults ages 25 to 54.

Despite their disagreements, Watters invited El-Sayed to return to the program.

“You seem a little naive, Abdul. I give you credit for facing the music, but some of the stuff’s just straight-up wacky,” Watters told him. “You know, I don’t know if that’s going to fly in Michigan.”

Monday’s show finished 17% ahead of the program’s August average.

The ratings victory capped a strong summer for Fox News. Last week, the network averaged nearly 2.4 million weekday primetime viewers, surpassing ABC’s 2.3 million and CBS’ 2 million, according to Nielsen Media Research Big Data + Panel.