# How powerful is Drudge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696 "2015-05-10T10:41:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/21 "2015-05-12T23:22:38Z")
Well, if he was all that powerful wouldn’t we have a different president, and wouldn’t the tide on gay marriage be swinging ‘against’, rather than ‘for’? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/22 "2015-05-12T23:38:15Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Reddit under 6 million page views per day vs. Drudge 15 million page views per day. > > Yes, Reddit certainly has overtaken Drudge. > > [http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/about/traffic](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/about/traffic) 15 million pageviews on 1.6 million unique visits. Reddit has 6 million pageviews with over 2 million unique visits. Drudge just has a bunch of old white guys reloading the page a dozen times a day. ---
**Author:** ![mrclose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@mrclose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrclose)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/23 "2015-05-17T22:14:02Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > 15 million pageviews on 1.6 million unique visits. Reddit has 6 million pageviews with over 2 million unique visits. > > Drudge just has a bunch of old white guys reloading the page a dozen times a day. I love seeing libtards twisting and flailing away when the facts don’t fit their world view.😃 ---
**Author:** ![mrclose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@mrclose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrclose)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/24 "2015-05-17T22:29:27Z")
> [@](#): > > While as a liberal, I do not suggest the following with a great deal of pleasure, but Matt Drudge is by far the single most influential person in the American media, and it is fair to ask: Is he the second most influential man in America? > > For more than any individual in the media, Drudge dominates his competitors to the degree that he has no competitors, and determines what you watch on television, what you read in newspapers, what you hear on radio, and even what you read on the Internet about politics more than any single person in American history. > **By Brent Budowsky, columnist, The Hill** :D:D ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/25 "2015-05-17T22:59:23Z")
If someone would have asked me, I would have confidently said that Drudge was a complete nonentity these days and that reddit and Huffpo got ten times the traffic of his site. I am totally surprised by this. It’s obviously a factor of what I tend to read online but prior to today, I haven’t seen a reference to Drudge in years. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/26 "2015-05-17T23:05:01Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > By whom? MSNBC? > > With 15 million plus page veiws and 1,610,697 uniques PER DAY (up 5%) just tell us who has overtaken Drudge??? > > Cite? > > [https://www.quantcast.com/drudgereport.com](https://www.quantcast.com/drudgereport.com) Quantcast gives Drudge a US rank of 191, so I’d say that lots have overtaken Drudge. Alexa gives Drudge a US rank of 136 and an international rank of 636. Here’s a list of the top 100 US websites: [https://www.quantcast.com/top-sites](https://www.quantcast.com/top-sites) [msn.com](http://msn.com) is in the top 10. buzzfeed, yahoo, wikipedia and pinterest are in the top 20. urbandictionary is 31. Stackexchange is 48. Freaking [examiner.com](http://examiner.com) is 49. NBC is 51, New York Times is 54, cnn is 99. TMZ is 93. TMZ is more powerful than Drudge. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/27 "2015-05-17T23:25:26Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Here’s a list of the top 100 US websites: > [https://www.quantcast.com/top-sites](https://www.quantcast.com/top-sites) Continuting on… [deviantart.com](http://deviantart.com) has a rank of 105. eonline has a rank of 110. [salon.com](http://salon.com) clocks in at 117. webmd: 118 **[reddit.com](http://reddit.com) 126.** Ahead of Drudge. [lifehacker.com](http://lifehacker.com) 133 gawker 137 rottentomatoes 149 gizmodo 157 [vox.com](http://vox.com) 159 [myspace.com](http://myspace.com) 177. Snort. [odometer.com](http://odometer.com) 190 Drudge report 191 [bbb.org](http://bbb.org) or the Better Business Bureau: 194 [stackoverflow.com](http://stackoverflow.com) 196 ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/28 "2015-05-17T23:28:24Z")
What does happen is a small website can crash if it’s linked on his page because the traffic increase overwhelms their small server. I assume the same thing can happen if a small site is linked to reddit or other big sites. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/29 "2015-05-17T23:28:52Z")
> [@mrclose](#): > > :D:D No! Not _the_ Brent Budowsky, columnist from _The Hill_?! Our benevolent leader? You LIE, sir! I also hadn’t heard Drudge’s name in quite a while, and wasn’t sure whether he was still around. Still bouncing fart noises off the walls of the echo chamber, eh? Good for him and his dashing collection of men’s hats. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/30 "2015-05-17T23:52:49Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Reddit under 6 million page views per day vs. Drudge 15 million page views per day. > > Yes, Reddit certainly has overtaken Drudge. > > [http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/about/traffic](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/about/traffic) That link is just the pageviews of the “AskReddit” subreddit, not the pageviews for the whole of reddit. According to [Reddit Inc Homepage](http://www.reddit.com/about) reddit had 7.5 billion pageviews in the previous month, which amounts to 250 million per day. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/31 "2015-05-18T00:07:24Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > That link is just the pageviews of the “AskReddit” subreddit, not the pageviews for the whole of reddit. According to [Reddit Inc Homepage](http://www.reddit.com/about) reddit had 7.5 billion pageviews in the previous month, which amounts to 250 million per day. That’s much more in line with what I expected. Thanks for correcting that massively awful citation. ---
**Author:** ![mrclose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@mrclose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrclose)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/32 "2015-05-18T00:40:22Z")
Anybody catch the Mighty Efforts that the libtards put forth to spin this thread?😕 The post was about **news organizations** , not about: > **[DeviantArt - The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community](https://www.deviantart.com/)** > > DeviantArt is where art and community thrive. Explore over 350 million pieces of art while connecting to fellow artists and art enthusiasts. **or** eonline **or** webmd: **or** > **[Lifehacker | Do everything better](https://lifehacker.com)** > > Lifehacker is the ultimate authority on optimizing every aspect of your life. Do everything better. **or** rottentomatoes **or** gizmodo **or** > **[Vox - Our world, explained](https://www.vox.com/)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... **or** > **[Odometer](https://www.odometer.com/)** > > We made Odometer to share our love of cars and vehicles with like-minded fans. If you spend your days thinking of new ways to customize your ride, dreaming about your next motorized toy or just appreciate gear-related culture and humor, then you're... **or** [bbb.org](http://bbb.org) or the Better Business Bureau **or god forbid** [myspace.com](http://myspace.com)😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/33 "2015-05-18T00:46:27Z")
I think there needs to be distinction here between people who use his site as a news bookmarking launch site (lots including myself occasionally)) and those who pay attention to his personal opinions (very few). He’s runs a successful news aggregation site, to say that makes him politically “powerful” or some kind of opinion leader is a big stretch. I can’t recall the last time he had an opinion on anything that was considered noteworthy or being discussed in the news. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/34 "2015-05-18T00:48:19Z")
Pst: [vox.com](http://vox.com) is a news organization. And I listed the New York Times, CNN, [salon.com](http://salon.com) et al. And the fact that [deviantart.com](http://deviantart.com) kicks Drudges ass (but not that of the New York Times or CNN) says plenty about Drudge’s influence, which wanned during the 1990s. Drudge is sandwiched between [odometer.com](http://odometer.com) and Ok Magazine. Not exactly powerhouse websites. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/35 "2015-05-18T01:00:18Z")
> [@mrclose](#): > > I love seeing libtards twisting and flailing away when the facts don’t fit their world view.😃 Personal insults against other posters aren’t allowed in this forum. Please don’t do this again. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/36 "2015-05-18T01:02:36Z")
I actually got more news from deviantart. Not politics, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/37 "2015-05-18T01:16:48Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > On the news some are saying Drudge is the “2nd most powerful man in America”. Taking another tact we can look at Forbes’ list of most powerful people in the world. [Here’s the subset that are Americans](http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/#tab:overall_country:United%20States). Drudge isn’t on it, though Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Capital is. Drudge is one of the most powerful gay men in America though, at least as of 2012. Out magazine ranks him [16 out of 50](http://www.out.com/2012/04/17/power-list-matt-drudge). (The top 3 are Tim Cook of Apple, Ellen Degeneres and Peter Theil the hedge fund manager). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696/38 "2015-05-18T12:18:36Z")
I’ve never heard of anyone advancing the idea that Drudge is influential. What is his worldview that we should be discussing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-is-drudge/719696.md?page=1)