Do Conservative TV Viewers Dislike Stephen Colbert?

A new poll commissioned by The Hollywood Reporter about the state of late-night TV is getting attention, with the industry publication crowning Jimmy Fallon “the king of late night among fans” and quoting pollster Jon Penn, who talks about “conservative-leaning [Jimmy] Kimmel and more liberal-leaning [Stephen] Colbert viewers” and how these political factors have enabled Fallon’s Tonight Show to dominate the ratings. The New York Post thinks the poll proves “Colbert’s Late Show has become propaganda for Democrats.”

The Hollywood Reporter poll conducted by the measurement firm Penn Schoen Berland asked 1,000 late-night viewers their opinions on everything from their primary source of TV news to which host they’d “want to go on a date with.”
THR’s own story, and others such as this Mediaite piece, extract takeaway analyses that equate Fallon’s popularity with him being the most politically neutral, whereas Colbert’s numbers are ascribed to his “liberal leanings” and the notion that “Colbert has shown almost no willingness to hit both sides of the aisle even close to equally.”

Beware such interpretations of an often-contradictory poll. For example, THR quotes Penn as saying Colbert’s viewers overwhelmingly support Bernie Sanders, suggesting a confirmation of the Colbert-is-liberal meme. That’s simply a false reading: The poll question asks viewers of Fallon, Colbert, and Kimmel their opinions of each of six Presidential candidates. Thus, when asked about Sanders, he was “favored” (that’s the word the poll uses) by 49 percent of Colbert viewers, 39 percent of Fallon viewers, and 36 percent of Kimmel voters. But look at the results for Carly Fiorina: she’s “favored” by 12 percent of Colbert viewers, 11 percent Fallon viewers, and 8 percent Kimmel viewers. If you’re talking about the results the way the pollster does, you’d have to say Colbert viewers overwhelmingly support Fiorina, arguably as conservative a candidate as this race has produced, more than Fallon and Kimmel viewers do.

In other words, the spin is false. Asked if the Presidential election were held today and Hillary Clinton was the Democratic candidate and Donald Trump was the Republican candidate, all three hosts’ viewers said they’d vote for Clinton in varying measurements well over 50% each. Which proves… absolutely nothing.

The really interesting question for me is, why is Colbert getting painted with the he’s-too-liberal brush? Look at the history of television. Colbert isn’t nearly as outspokenly political as a couple of beloved late-night hosts of yesteryear. Two previous Tonight Show hosts, Steve Allen and Jack Paar, were out-liberals. Allen — before and after his time on Tonight — promoted progressive causes, and booked people like comedian Lenny Bruce (shown below on The Steve Allen Show) and Beat novelist Jack Kerouac as guests at a time when both were considered radical choices. Paar had a platonic love affair with John F. Kennedy’s Camelot, heaping praise upon JFK, Jackie, and Robert Kennedy. Both hosts were extremely popular, and you’d be hard-pressed to find coverage, let alone criticism, of their politics. (Paar did receive criticism of his 1959 interview with Fidel Castro in Cuba.)

What’s changed? A few things. A heightened amount of score-keeping, for sure: It’s gotten so some media-watchers actually count how many Democrat-vs.-Republican jokes the hosts deliver in their opening monologues. And show-biz reporters feel completely confident labeling material liberal or conservative based on… what? Does the fact that Donald Trump’s more extravagant pronouncements lend themselves to late-night jokes mean the hosts are more liberal when they joke more frequently about Trump than they do, say, Martin O’Malley? Of course not. TV hosts always go after the big fish, that’s all.

Another factor is at play here: There’s an increase in audience sensitivity, in their reluctance to enjoy someone whom they even imagine does not share their political outlook, because to do so would, I’m convinced many people now believe, be an endorsement of that person’s politics. In other words, people currently deny themselves pleasure based on a hypothetical grudge. Some viewers decide not to watch The Late Show — not just Colbert’s opening solo segments, but the guest interviews as well — based solely on their perception of what his politics are. Why? Are those viewers so offended by a joke ridiculing Trump or Ben Carson that they cannot stick around to enjoy an excellent interview with Michael Caine or Andrew Lloyd Webber?

Do people think Colbert’s politics — again, perceived politics; Colbert has never stated his party affiliation, but it is assumed, because he portrayed a buffoonish right-wing host on The Colbert Report, he must be a liberal — will infect, permeate, color, or influence his celebrity interviews? What proof of that specific point can anyone reading this offer me?

By the way, the results of the “who’d you like to go on a date with” question? 51 percent Fallon, 26 percent Kimmel, 23 percent Colbert. Why would this be? Here’s why: Colbert talks about his wife and his marriage more often than Fallon or Kimmel do theirs, by far. He’s the guy best known of these three as being off the market, so why would more people vote for him? If I was putting spin on this, I’d say, “This proves Colbert is the most pro-marriage, conservative-values family man!”

But I’m not going to say that. I’ll wait until someone on cable news does. I’ll bet I wait a long time, too…