Left-leaning MSNBC is edging out CNN for prime-time viewers.
The network, which is often critical of President Donald Trump, has beaten out CNN in total weekday prime-time viewers for six of the past seven months, The New York Times reported.
MSNBC's prime-time audience in February had increased by 55 percent from a year ago, according to the report.
However, CNN still outpaces MSNBC in prime time among adults ages 25-54 — a group coveted by advertisers.
"There is a new safe space for liberals in the age of President Trump: the television set," the Times wrote.
Aside from the MSNBC surge in popularity, Stephen Colbert's anti-Trump "Late Show" has been ahead of Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight," and "The Daily Show" is registering its best ratings since Jon Stewart left, according to the newspaper.
Over at MSNBC, per the Times, there are new devotees to Rachel Maddow.
"She's always talking about the Russians!" Yvonne Brumleve of Louisville, Ky., said.
Maddow offers this explanation for the jump in ratings: "There is this surge in civic interest and engagement. It feels like a spontaneous, organic, pretty broad-based, heterogeneous, energized, constructive force, and it's been interesting to me to see it happen everywhere."
Liberal activist Gloria Steinem said she is also a Maddow fan.
"I watch MSNBC for Joy Reid, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell, because I trust them as journalists," Steinem said. "A journalist's job is not to be balanced; it's to be accurate."
But the Times noted it is not just the liberal networks enjoying a ratings boost. In February, Fox News, cable's high-rated network, saw its prime-time viewership increase 31 percent from a year ago.
The Hill reported Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN had usually experienced a drop in viewership following presidential elections.
"But the post-election Trump transition and his unpredictable presidency have been a boon for cable news and especially MSNBC, which once dubbed itself 'The Place for Politics,'" the website said.
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