It is silly to try to use cable news channel ratings to predict voter sentiment. There is no direct relationship. You might as well look at tea leaves.

FOX NEWS not only competes with CNN & MSNBC, it competes with all other cable and broadcast channels, even the channels showing re-runs of I Love Lucy or Bowling For Dollars. FOX competes with community volunteer work, Little League and with mowing the lawn as well.

We have 300+ million people living in the United States. When you see those towering FOX NEWS audience share numbers, remember they only represents 2-4 million viewers, which rounded out equals about 1% of the population. They are watching FOX. Everybody else is either doing something else or watching something else.

But…those 2-4 million also represent the overwhelming majority of people who are active news-seekers. These people are not passive viewers vegging out on the sofa. They are looking for the real news and increasingly they recognize that what they are being served on the other channels is junk food.

If FOX’s numbers keep growing, however, there will come a time when those viewers do exert a measurable force on public perceptions and elections. I suspect Democrat strategists know this, too. Thus the relentless bash-Fox campaign.