Can we gain a bit of perspective about the so called Conservative Momentum

[Perky]

How many people actually listen to Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk titan White House officials have spent the past week characterizing as "the head of the Republican Party"?

According to what Limbaugh delights in calling "the drive-by media," the number varies wildly. Is it 30 million (Pat Buchanan on MSNBC), 20 million (Time magazine, ABC News), 19 million (Fox News), 14 million (CNN), or "14.2 million to about 25 million" (The Washington Post)?

Answer: Maybe.

Limbaugh is widely acknowledged to be the most popular talk-radio host, as evidenced by the record $400 million, eight-year contract he signed with his syndicator last July. But estimates of Limbaugh's nationwide (and overseas) audience are exercises in guesswork, slippery methodology and suspect data. Limbaugh himself has muddied the water with the claim that he reaches 20 million people a week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030603435.html

Yesterday, for some reason or another, I was curious to see how Glenn Beck had been doing in the ratings department...so I collected the ratings for each and every one of his TV broadcasts since the premiere of his show on Fox in January, 2009.

Next, I calculated the average audience size for each week that the show has been on the air, and put the numbers into a chart. (To be fair and balanced, I excluded the weeks of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's holidays, each of which artificially depressed Beck's numbers.)

The chart revealed something of a surprise: since Glenn Beck's ratings peak during the week ending January 22 (the week of Beck's special "Revolutionary Holocaust: Live free or die" broadcast), Beck's ratings have been on a steep slide, dropping nearly 50%.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/8/855357/-Glenn-Becks-ratings:-Not-as-meteoric-as-people-think

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for April 14, 2010

P2+ Total Day

FNC – 1,173,000 viewers
CNN – 368,000 viewers
MSNBC – 426,000 viewers
CNBC – 221,000 viewers
HLN – 361,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time

FNC – 2,347,000 viewers
CNN – 563,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,019,000 viewers

CNBC – 256,000 viewers
HLN –739,000 viewers

http://tvbythenumbers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2010.01.31-Average-P2+-590x455.png

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/31/fox-news-vs-cnn-vs-msnbc-5-11pm-cable-news-ratings/40629

[AndyA]

1. Faux News seems to be the default network on many televisions in public areas,

often not being watched by anyone, or being watched for just a short period of time. I suspect if all those unwatched sets were discounted, the numbers would look very different as well.

[stray cat]

2. Progressive politicians are not popular and many DUers claim they are done voting dem

not a winning combination

[Jennicut]

3. No politicians are all that popular these days. Boner and McConnell are

not polling any better then Pelosi and Reid. In fact, they are polling worse.