While CNN’s Jake Tapper’s new book has created buzz about a potential “cover-up” of former President Joe Biden’s alleged cognitive decline, his cable viewers have had quite the opposite reaction.
For the month of May, viewership for “The Lead with Jake Tapper” dropped to its lowest point since August 2015, The Wrap reported. The three shows that follow — “Erin Burnett Upfront,” “Anderson Cooper 360” and “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” — have also faced a drop of 18% or more compared to last year.
“The Lead with Jake Tapper” posted a 25% decline in viewership, with 525,000 viewers last month compared to 701,000 viewers in May 2024, according to Nielsen data. Compared to the same period, Cooper and Burnett lost 100,000 viewers, and Collins’ show declined by 149,000 viewers.
The dip in ratings has transpired as Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, who co-authored “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” toured to promote the book at events across the country and through media appearances. The book stood as No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list when it debuted, and was heavily promoted on Tapper’s show and others at the network.
The book, which was released in May, follows the former president’s run for reelection, despite “evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration." Biden had announced that he would not run for the presidency in July of last year — and later endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who ultimately lost to Trump.
Biden, who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, has since addressed backlash from those who believe his mental acuity declined during his term — a concern that gained national attention after the release of the book.
“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent, I can’t walk,” Biden quipped after a Memorial Day event last week. “And I can beat the hell out of both of them.”
Some Democrats have labeled the book as a hit-piece against Biden, and Tapper received even more criticism for promoting the book after the former president announced his cancer diagnosis in early May. A handful of Republicans have also slammed Tapper for not covering the alleged decline when it was happening in real time.
While Tapper has defended the book, he has acknowledged that he dropped the ball on his coverage during his administration.
“I’m not going to speak for anybody else, but knowing then what I know now, I look back at my coverage during the Biden years — and I did cover some of these issues, but not enough,” he said on CNN. “I look back on it with humility.”
During an interview with conservative pundit Piers Morgan last week, Tapper said the alleged “cover-up” may be “worse” than Watergate during former President Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Stories by Rachel Cohen
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