WASHINGTON (AP) — As late-night talk shows undergo major changes and controversy, a new poll finds that while most Americans don’t watch them regularly, the ones who do make such programming part of their routine are more likely to be Democrats.
Only about one-quarter of Americans say they have watched a late-night talk show or variety show at least monthly in the last year, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll was conducted after the announcement that Stephen Colbert’s show was being canceled but before Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.
More people say they catch late-night TV segments online, through recirculated clips.
The poll comes at a time when President Donald Trump has celebrated Kimmel’s suspension and Colbert’s cancellation while calling for other late-night hosts to be fired and the head of the Federal Communications Commission has pushed to root out what he describes as liberal bias from networks. Late-night TV shows are also facing economic challenges and changing audiences that have more options than ever in what to watch.
In follow-up interviews, several Republicans said they used to enjoy late-night shows but now feel that they are too political.
Cyndi Christner, 70, a Republican from Michigan, said the comedy segments she’s seen from the major talk shows recently aren’t for a “universal” audience and don’t feel like jokes but rather “just political hacks trying to keep a small minority audience.”
“When I watch a late-night show, I would like to be entertained, and they just got ugly,” Christner said. “That’s just the bottom line. They got ugly, and it wasn’t entertaining anymore.”
Democrats are more likely to be regularly watching late-night talk shows
Democrats tend to be more regular late-night TV viewers.
Just under half of Democrats say they’ve watched late-night clips at least once a month in the past year, compared with only about a quarter of either Republicans or independents. Democrats are also more likely to regularly watch all or most of a late-night TV show. About one-third of Democrats say they’ve done this monthly over the last year, compared with about 2 in 10 Republicans or independents.
While Richard Zamorano, 66, doesn’t regularly watch late-night talk shows, he enjoys watching Jimmy Fallon, and sometimes he’ll tune in for the monologue or record the show to watch later. He’s alarmed by Kimmel’s suspension and Colbert’s cancellation and worries about the Republican president’s expressed interest in going after other hosts.
Zamorano, who identifies as a moderate Democrat, said he has always enjoyed late-night comedians’ ability to poke fun at former presidents. He doesn’t want other hosts to back away from that comedy, but he also understands that their jobs could be at risk.
“If these guys aren’t careful what they say, we’re going to lose all of the late-night broadcasting,” Zamorano said. “I don’t recognize my country.”
Late-night clips are more popular than shows
It’s not just politics that’s changing late-night viewership. The late-night TV genre has been losing its audience to streaming services and highlight reels of the shows for years.
About half of U.S. adults say they’ve watched all or most of a late-night talk or variety show at some point in the past year, but for many of those people, it’s not a regular part of their routine. Clips reach a wider audience, with about 6 in 10 U.S. adults having watched clips from a late-night talk show in the past year.
Only about one-quarter of Americans say they have watched a late-night talk show at least monthly in the past year, but more, about one-third, say they’ve watched related clips. Even as relatively few Americans are sitting down each night to watch full programs, many are familiar with the hosts and have thoughts on the shifting media landscape.
John Burns, an independent from Oregon, said he tries to watch Colbert’s show but it can be hard to catch it live. Though he can’t always tune in, he admires Colbert’s comedic style and calls his writers “masterful.” He wonders who will fill the void to help the country laugh at itself when Colbert’s show goes off the air in May.
“I just hate to lose the voices that represent so many of us. They’re doing it in a humorous way,” Burns said. “We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, so I just feel like, in losing that, we’re losing a part of what makes America America.”
Late-night clip-watchers are younger
There are no age differences among the people who watch late-night TV shows, but clip watchers skew younger.
About 7 in 10 Americans under age 30 say they’ve watched clips from late-night TV shows in the past year, compared with 56% of Americans age 60 or older.
Ben Majetich, a 61-year-old Republican from Washington, used to watch late-night shows when he was younger. He would tune in live for Johnny Carson, Jay Leno or David Letterman. But he believes the late-night TV shows have changed over the years in a way that moved them from entertainment and escapism to partisan attacks.
“They were very good in the old days when bringing up current events, regardless of who it was about, and joking about it. Everybody could laugh. It wasn’t mean-spirited. It wasn’t so cutting,” Majetich said. “Nowadays, I do think it’s slanted one direction more than the other, and it really is critical and biting, and it has an undercurrent of almost viciousness to it.”
He thinks it’s important for people with a national platform, like Kimmel, to be cautious with their words. He extends that to the president, as well, noting that he’d rather Trump focus on “his presidential stuff” and not posting on social media about late-night hosts. He still thinks the shows could change back toward the nonpolitical entertainment he once enjoyed.
“I think it’s going to be an evolution,” he said. “I hope everybody starts going to the point where it becomes a lot more nonpartisan than it has in the past and go back to what the roots were where you have that entertainment value without pushing a message.”
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,182 adults was conducted Aug. 21-25, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Linley Sanders
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