Watching Presidential Primary and General Election Results
Every major cable news channel airs extensive coverage throughout the day of candidates, voters, polls and then at night you can stream results of every election live online or watch via cable, satellite or over-the-air TV. Top anchors from each channel lead their prime time coverage in the hours leading up to the official results being announced with help from other top correspondents, analysts and commentators reporting from the field and in the studio.
The primary season officially begins the first week in February with the Iowa caucuses, followed by the New Hampshire primary, Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary. The first week of March starts off with "Super Tuesday" where fourteen states hold their primary, followed by smaller groups of states holding their primary throughout the next weeks and months.
Cable News Primary and General Election Coverage
Cable news stations air special coverage throughout the day of a major primary or primaries with up-to-the-minute developments and commentary, culminating with the top political anchors of the networks leading prime time coverage where the results are announced and candidates speeches are aired.
CNN
CNN provides primary and general election coverage from a mainstream point of view.
Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper are the lead anchors with Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Jeffrey Toobin, Gloria Borger, John King, Manu Raju, Paul Begala, Jim Acosta, Dana Bash, S.E. Cupp, Rick Santorum, Ana Navarro, David Chalian, Kristen Powers, Tom Foreman, Chris Cillizza, and others offering commentary and updates throughout the day and night.
Fox News
Fox News provides primary and general election coverage from a conservative point of view.
Chris Wallace leads the Fox News news division, but election night is usually anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum with Wallace appearing for special updates. They are joined by Bill Hemmer, Brit Hume, Dana Perino, Juan Williams, John Roberts, Kevin Corke, Steve Hilton, Mollie Hemingway, Harris Faulkner, Shannon Bream, Carley Shimkus and others.
Prime time hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham also offer their thoughts as results come in.
MSNBC
MSNBC provides primary and general election coverage from a left-of-center point of view.
Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow anchor election night coverage with help from Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Alex Wagner, Ari Melber, Steve Kornacki, Nicolle Wallace, Eugene Robinson, Gadi Schwartz and others.
Prime time hosts Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Hayes, Chris Matthews, Al Sharpton and Joe Scarborough also offer their thoughts throughout the course of election coverage.
C-Span
C-Span provides primary and general election coverage from a strictly news point-of-view.
They do not offer commentary outside of strict reporting on the results, but they do air the results live as they come in and every speech by the candidates without commercial interruption. C-Span also has open phone lines voters from across the political spectrum can call to give their personal views on the news of the day.
Network Television Primary and General Election Coverage
Network television stations offer in-dept coverage of general elections, but often only offer minimal reporting on individual primaries and caucuses. While cable news stations provide round-the-clock coverage, network television stations air their special election coverage during prime time.