Daily Show viewers ace Political quiz

[Lonestar]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/2 ... index.html

CNN) -- So, three guys are watching TV.

One turns on Jay Leno. One tunes into David Letterman. And the other watches Jon Stewart.

Who's better informed politically?

In a recent survey, viewers of Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central tested better than Letterman and Leno viewers on a six-question politics quiz.

Viewers of all three shows know more about the background of presidential candidates and their positions on issues than people who don't watch late-night TV.

On top of that, "Daily Show" viewers know more about election issues than people who regularly read newspapers or watch television news, according to the National Annenberg Election Survey. (Pop quiz)

Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, a senior research analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, said "Daily Show" viewers came out on top "even when education, party identification, following politics, watching cable news, receiving campaign information online, age and gender are taken into consideration."

The quiz was given to 19,013 adults between July 15 and September 19.

The quiz included these questions:

"Who favors allowing workers to invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market?" Answer: Bush.

"Who urges Congress to extend the federal law banning assault weapons?" Answer: Kerry.

While viewers of NBC's "The Tonight Show" and CBS' "The Late Show" scored better than the general public, Stewart's fans came out on top.

Forty-nine percent of Leno and Letterman viewers got a perfect score on the quiz.

But 60 percent of "Daily Show" viewers answered all six questions correctly.

Just 42 percent of those who read a newspaper four days a week aced the test. Only 40 percent of those who watch network news four days a week got every answer right.

Comedy Central was waiting for news like this. On September 17, Stewart appeared on Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor" only to be told his viewers are "stoned slackers" and "dopey kids."

"You know what's really frightening?" O'Reilly asked Stewart. " You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it's true."

Comedy Central used its viewers' test scores Tuesday to strike back at Fox News Channel and O'Reilly's viewers.

It also trotted out stats from Nielsen Media Research to show that Stewart's viewers are not only smart, but more educated than O'Reilly's.

"Daily Show" viewers are 78 percent more likely than the average adult to have four or more years of college education, while O'Reilly's audience is only 24 percent more likely to have that much schooling.

Plus, the network noted, "Daily Show" viewers are 26 percent more likely to have a household income more than $100,000, while O'Reilly's audience is only 11 percent more likely to make that much money.

So the guy watching Stewart may not only be smart, but may also be rich.

There's a message here somewhere. Possibly that O'Reilly watchers are uninformed groundlings, but that's just me.

[Stormbringer]

There's a message here somewhere. Possibly that O'Reilly watchers are uninformed groundlings, but that's just me.

Actaully, O'Reilly veiwers are still oddly enough more likely to be above average but the Daily Show is definitely out ahead in terms of income and formal education. I wouldn't take that at all to me that O'Reilly's viewers are
uninformed groundlings" though.

And as for the quiz, it compares the Daily Show to Leno and Letterman. Not exactly stiff competetion for the political awareness there.

[Xenophobe3691]

Actaully, O'Reilly veiwers are still oddly enough more likely to be above average but the Daily Show is definitely out ahead in terms of income and formal education. I wouldn't take that at all to me that O'Reilly's viewers are
uninformed groundlings" though.

And as for the quiz, it compares the Daily Show to Leno and Letterman. Not exactly stiff competetion for the political awareness there.

The reason they compared them to Leno and Letterman is because the Daily Show isn't a news show. It's a comedy parodying the news. In a remarkable twist, in doing a parody, they hit the nail on the head better than the entirely political show hosted by O'reilly. A sort of "kidding on the square".

[Stravo]

One thing that I don't know if the polls are taking into account is the fact that in order to see the Daily SHow you need to have Cable, that means you have to pay for it. This means more disposable income which usually correlates to College education or better. Thus you can surmise that the average cable viewer is probably better educated on average than the broadcast channel viewers.

[The Kernel]

One thing that I don't know if the polls are taking into account is the fact that in order to see the Daily SHow you need to have Cable, that means you have to pay for it. This means more disposable income which usually correlates to College education or better. Thus you can surmise that the average cable viewer is probably better educated on average than the broadcast channel viewers.

True, but Fox News is a cable news show as well, so you can at least directly compare O'Reily viewers and Stewart viewers.

[Futoque]

It could also be that to really understand the humor of the Daily Show you actually have to be informed about what is going on.

[SyntaxVorlon]

From watching the Daily Show it's fairly obvious that it provides good political coverage for something that only runs 2 full hours in a week.

[SyntaxVorlon]

BTW, live coverage thursday night of the Debate. I am salivating.

[Darth Wong]

The Daily Show's audience, like any TV show's audience, is self-selecting. It's a show about current events and political satire, so its audience will naturally be biased toward people who have an interest in (and consequently above-average awareness of) such matters.

Your average inbred redneck will not have the slightest interest in such a show, whereas he might turn on Bill O'Reilly and say "hey, that there big city slicker suuure has some good ol' ideas about dem faggots and dem dere gay marriage".

[Durandal]

BTW, live coverage thursday night of the Debate. I am salivating.

I hope Colbert does Republican Rapid Response (tm) to Kerry.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The Daily Show's audience, like any TV show's audience, is self-selecting. It's a show about current events and political satire, so its audience will naturally be biased toward people who have an interest in (and consequently above-average awareness of) such matters.

Your average inbred redneck will not have the slightest interest in such a show, whereas he might turn on Bill O'Reilly and say "hey, that there big city slicker suuure has some good ol' ideas about dem faggots and dem dere gay marriage".

Myself and the other inbred rednecks don't talk like that.

[Ender]

The Daily Show's audience, like any TV show's audience, is self-selecting. It's a show about current events and political satire, so its audience will naturally be biased toward people who have an interest in (and consequently above-average awareness of) such matters.

Your average inbred redneck will not have the slightest interest in such a show, whereas he might turn on Bill O'Reilly and say "hey, that there big city slicker suuure has some good ol' ideas about dem faggots and dem dere gay marriage".

Myself and the other inbred rednecks don't talk like that.

If you are talking the exact view there, I can't comment. But in terms of the slang and accenting, yes, you do. I've liven in South Carolina, Virgina, and just spent last night in West Virginia and Kentucky. Trust me.

[Durandal]

The Daily Show's audience, like any TV show's audience, is self-selecting. It's a show about current events and political satire, so its audience will naturally be biased toward people who have an interest in (and consequently above-average awareness of) such matters.

Your average inbred redneck will not have the slightest interest in such a show, whereas he might turn on Bill O'Reilly and say "hey, that there big city slicker suuure has some good ol' ideas about dem faggots and dem dere gay marriage".

Myself and the other inbred rednecks don't talk like that.

You mean "The other inbred rednecks and I don't talk like that."

[SirNitram]

The Daily Show's audience, like any TV show's audience, is self-selecting. It's a show about current events and political satire, so its audience will naturally be biased toward people who have an interest in (and consequently above-average awareness of) such matters.

Your average inbred redneck will not have the slightest interest in such a show, whereas he might turn on Bill O'Reilly and say "hey, that there big city slicker suuure has some good ol' ideas about dem faggots and dem dere gay marriage".

Myself and the other inbred rednecks don't talk like that.

I can confirm that the vast majority of Boon County, West Virginia, does talk like that.

But if you're really patient and careful, you can find folks here who speak something like Middle English. Just one more from the transplanted Brit.