Are Stewart and Colbert responsible for young people being heavily democratic?

[Matty]

I would wager that a good 70-80% of people ages 18-25 watch those shows weekly, and the shows really do a good job of selling and advertising the democratic party in a humorous way. I can't remember who said it, but I once heard someone say that those two men are the two biggest reasons why Obama won the young vote so heavily. In this respect, I wonder how Colbert's exit will sit over with dem strategists.

[dead0man]

A bit maybe, but mostly it's them/Comedy Central/Viacom seizing a key TV demo and making a killing doing it.

[Matty]

Yes, but the underlying motives are political. Stewart especially is a very important dem weapon. He rarely, if ever, criticizes the party. In fact, he endorses the party in most episodes.

[The Free North]

I would wager that a good 70-80% of people ages 18-25 watch those shows weekly, and the shows really do a good job of selling and advertising the democratic party in a humorous way. I can't remember who said it, but I once heard someone say that those two men are the two biggest reasons why Obama won the young vote so heavily. In this respect, I wonder how Colbert's exit will sit over with dem strategists.

You're kidding right?

70-80% of 18-25 watch it WEEKLY?

I don't think there has been any show in history with those type of ratings amongst the youth demographic let alone a political satire show.

I'm in college now and I would guess that most people have heard of the two shows, but less than 10% actually watch them regular. Furthermore, the kids that do watch them a lot lean to the left already who its not like they were persuaded.....

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

No.

[IceSpear]

No

[traininthedistance]

You've got cause and effect backwards.  Stewart and Colbert are popular because youngs are more Democratic, not the other way around.

[Lief 🗽]

Jon Stewart isn't even that Democratic. He's very much a moderate hero.

[Reginald]

There's not even agreement on whether watching Stewart and Colbert is positively correlated with youth political participation in itself, much less partisan identification.

http://apr.sagepub.com/content/34/3/341
http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/1/90
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10584600802427013#.U2kVJsZ6elI

One of these articles found that both Bush and Kerry (outdated, yes) were viewed more negatively among young viewers of these shows, even controlling for ideology. It seems that if these Comedy Central programs are indeed "selling the Democratic Party," it's a fairly recent phenomenon.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It really is breathtaking that comedy shows are doing a better job reporting the news than so-called news shows are.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Neh, they're not responsible.  Wasn't MTV the pioneer of getting kids to be libs?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Neh, they're not responsible.  Wasn't MTV the pioneer of getting kids to be libs?

I watched MTV in the '80s, and I don't remember MTV having a liberal bias.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Here's an MTV video on the 1992 election: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGSNl2FjeoQ

Biased for sure, but a good video anyway for exposing Bush Sr.'s pathetic pandering.

[Joe Republic]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

60 and older was the most Democratic age group in 1988, 1992, and 2000.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html

[Del Tachi]

I would wager that a good 70-80% of people ages 18-25 watch those shows weekly, and the shows really do a good job of selling and advertising the democratic party in a humorous way. I can't remember who said it, but I once heard someone say that those two men are the two biggest reasons why Obama won the young vote so heavily. In this respect, I wonder how Colbert's exit will sit over with dem strategists.

You must not have a very diverse set of friends.

Kids who watch the show are already more politically aware than their peers who don't.

People who don't start caring about politics until they're 30 or 35 are Republicans while people who start caring when they're 16 or 17 are Democrats or hackish Republicans.   

[The Mikado]

They get somewhere between 1 and 2 million viewers.  There are tens of millions of people in that age group.

[Horus]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

60 and older was the most Democratic age group in 1988, 1992, and 2000.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html

Democrat doesn't mean Liberal.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Meanwhile, beginning in 2010, people who were 18 now lean Republican in voting.

Um, no.

[SteveRogers]

boshembechle, what universe does your demographic data come from?

[Nichlemn]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

60 and older was the most Democratic age group in 1988, 1992, and 2000.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html

2000 was interesting, there was virtually no age gap anywhere. 18-29 only went Dem by a couple of points, 60+ by four points, the rest went Republican by a point. I wonder why? (Nader probably exaggerated it a little).

[Mr. Morden]

I would wager that a good 70-80% of people ages 18-25 watch those shows weekly

No, not even close.

[Maxwell]

um lol no

[Mordecai]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

60 and older was the most Democratic age group in 1988, 1992, and 2000.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html

2000 was interesting, there was virtually no age gap anywhere. 18-29 only went Dem by a couple of points, 60+ by four points, the rest went Republican by a point. I wonder why? (Nader probably exaggerated it a little).

Gore was tainted by the Lewinsky affair because he defended Clinton and Bush was seen as a humble, compassionate conservative who would restore morality to the White House. Also there were no pressing issues at the time except what to do with the federal budget surplus (Bush promised tax cuts). The reason the election was so tight is probably because it was so boring and uninspiring.

[Mr. Morden]

Young people are more progressive than old people?!  But that's craaazyyy!!

60 and older was the most Democratic age group in 1988, 1992, and 2000.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html

2000 was interesting, there was virtually no age gap anywhere. 18-29 only went Dem by a couple of points, 60+ by four points, the rest went Republican by a point. I wonder why? (Nader probably exaggerated it a little).

As I pointed out here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188900.msg4086941#msg4086941

In 1988, E.J. Dionne wrote in the New York Times that the Democrats faced a demographic crisis because the youth vote was getting increasingly Republican.

The huge age gap that we saw in 2008 and 2012 (and to a lesser extent 2004) is relatively new.  And actually, the early 2016 polling suggests that with Hillary Clinton as the 2016 nominee, it might regress a bit towards the 2004 age gap.  I think the main thing is that Obama's support in particular skews especially young, and so some of the trends we saw with Obama might backslide somewhat when he's not on the ticket.