CNN Announces Second Libertarian Town Hall


road to the white houseCNN has announced a second town hall with Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, the presidential and vice presidential nominees of the Libertarian Party. CNN previously aired a town hall with the two in June. This town hall will be moderated by Anderson Cooper whereas the previous town hall was done by Chris Cuomo.

There was not much advance notice on the event as it will air two days from now on August 3 at 9 PM ET. CNN says that the two “will address the current state of the 2016 race and the platform of the Libertarian Party in addition to fielding questions from voters.”

The ratings for the first town hall were described by CNN’s Brian Stelter as “good but not great” with 320,000 in the important 25-54 age demo and 929,000 total viewers. CNN has been using town halls as a way to increase its ratings. August is typically a slow news month and that negatively affects CNN’s ratings. The town hall is a win for CNN as it will bring in viewers no matter the news cycle.

Johnson has said that his campaign will be primarily based off of free media and media appearances with few local events. Johnson is hoping that that media appearances will increase his poll numbers and then get him high enough to qualify for the debates. Johnson has said that his campaign depends on getting into the debates. Johnson must hit at least 15% in five national polls in order to qualify for the debates. In national polls, he currently hovers around 10%.


About Tyler

Tyler is the chief media reporter for TKNN, with the news organization since its founding in November of 2010. He has previously served as chief political reporter and chief political anchor for TKNN.

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