Republicans just don’t get Stephen Colbert: Why the Fox News-watching, climate-change denying crowd

When it was first announced that Stephen Colbert would take over for David Letterman as host of “The Late Show”—both the right and the left complained. The left worried that the end of “The Colbert Report” and his pundit persona would signal a huge loss for politically progressive satire. The right argued that the choice of Colbert signaled that CBS was, to quote Rush Limbaugh, at “war on the heartland of America.” “CBS executives made it clear” however, “that they expected Mr. Colbert to broaden his appeal when he moved to the medium of late night on a network.”

At least that was the idea.

We now have data that paint a different picture. First of all, despite a strong start, Colbert has now trailed behind his comedic competitors on ABC and NBC for two weeks running. That is good news for ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who had held the No. 3 spot since Colbert took over. NBC’s Jimmy Fallon remains comfortably No. 1 with approximately a half million more viewers than his closest competitor.

So what’s the catch? Why has Colbert dropped in ratings? Well, according to a poll published by The Hollywood Reporter, it seems that Colbert has a GOP problem. Only 17 percent of Colbert’s viewers are Republican compared to 31 percent for Fallon and 33 percent for Kimmel. While Kimmel is clearly the comedian that most appeals to Republican viewers, both he and Fallon have a fairly balanced split between parties. Colbert, in contrast, does not.

Colbert Fallon Kimmel
Democrat 47% 36% 34%
Republican 17% 31% 33%
Independent 31% 27% 30%

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/23/republicans_just_dont_get_colbert_why_the_fox_news_watching_climate_change_denying_crowd_cant_understand_complex_satire/