Jesse Watters’ Contentious Interview Delivers Fox News a Huge Ratings Win

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 aged 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.