--- description: Find out why Tucker Carlson is one of the 100 most influential people of 2021. title: Tucker Carlson: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb141e6997adaac/698a1cba096a94b41a6aba24/tucker-carlson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 15, 2021 # Tucker Carlson by Charlotte Alter  Tucker Carlson Gillian Laub for TIME Tucker Carlson Gillian Laub for TIMEGillian Laub for TIME Love him or hate him, [Tucker Carlson](https://time.com/6080432/tucker-carlson-profile/ "undefined") may be the most powerful conservative in America. With roughly 3 million viewers every night, _Tucker Carlson Tonight_ is the top-rated show in cable-news history. As Republicans have lost nearly all their political power on the federal level, Carlson has emerged as the de facto cultural leader of the right. His diatribes against “the elites,” the federal government and the scientific consensus shape the belief system of millions. If it seems like Americans can’t agree on anything—including whether COVID-19 vaccines work and whether Joe Biden won the presidential election—that’s partly the evidence of Tucker Carlson’s influence. _Alter is a TIME senior correspondent_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/"},"headline":"Tucker Carlson","datePublished":"2021-09-15T11:16:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:14.100Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","T100 2021","T100 2021 Leaders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb141e6997adaac/698a1cba096a94b41a6aba24/tucker-carlson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdb141e6997adaac/698a1cba096a94b41a6aba24/tucker-carlson-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/","name":"Tucker Carlson"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | See Everyone on the 2021 TIME100 List","description":"See every 2021 TIME100 Honoree in One Minute","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZgB6AGK2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-09-15T10:45:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZgB6AGK2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096034/tucker-carlson/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```