The View got a major ratings jolt after Vice President J.D. Vance sat down with the ladies of the long-running ABC talk show.
According to ABC, Vance’s June appearance became the show’s most-watched episode since its post-election broadcast in November 2024, pulling in a huge 3.3 million viewers.
The surge did not stop there. The same week, The View averaged 2.942 million viewers, marking a 22 percent jump in total audience, according to TV Insider. The show also brought in 244,000 women in the key 25-to-54 age group and 189,000 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo.
Vance, 41, appeared on the daytime panel show to promote his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.
But the conversation quickly turned political.
During the sit-down, Vance defended President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, spoke about the economy, and admitted he has been a bit of an Epstein conspiracy theorist himself.
He also pushed back when the hosts pressed him on inflation and affordability, blaming the Biden administration for what he said Trump inherited.
“The affordability problem — again, gas is way too high right now, certain things are way too high. You know, rents have been either flat or down for 12 months now,” Vance said.
“My view — I’m sure you guys don’t agree with it — is that we inherited a mess and we’re fixing it. But sometimes it takes a long time to fix a mess.”
The ratings boost comes as The View is also caught in a growing fight with the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has launched an investigation into ABC while questioning whether The View should be subject to the “equal time” rule for political content.
Disney has fired back, filing a discharge petition and arguing that the show is protected under a long-standing “bona fide news” exemption that has applied for more than 20 years.
“The View’s exemption remains valid,” Disney said in its filing, while also arguing that Americans now get political commentary from podcasts, cable news, social media, streaming platforms and countless other sources.
The company said the “marketplace of ideas has never been more robust” and argued that the FCC rule makes less sense in today’s media world, where political opinions are everywhere.
Earlier this month, The View also took the fight directly to its audience by airing a TV spot urging fans to speak up before a July 6 deadline.
“The View has welcomed your favorite guests for nearly 30 years,” the ad said. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Tell the FCC to let the viewers decide.”
For now, the controversy does not appear to be hurting the show.
In fact, with Vance’s appearance delivering one of its biggest audiences in months, The View may have found that political drama is still one of daytime TV’s biggest ratings weapons.