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SALT LAKE CITY — With a key voting group — young voters — up for grabs this election, here's a question for you: Did Mitt Romney miss a key opportunity by not agreeing to appear on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report"?
New Utah-based research highlights the role of those shows in the news appetite of that younger demographic.
At the University of Utah, KSL News conducted our own non-scientific experiment, asking students where they turn, what sources of information they watch to find what's going on in the world.
Of roughly 20 students we talked to, most pointed to very non-traditional news sources. Namely, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report," with mock conservative commentator Stephen Colbert.
Westminster College business professor Doug Peterson got similar results when he surveyed 150 students in that key 18- to 24-year-old bracket.
Related:
Huntsman appears on 'Colbert Report'
Former Utah governor and GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman took his message to late-night comedy with an appearance on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" Monday night."What I found is that, in this time, students get their information about political issues from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert," Peterson said
In addition to "The Daily Show" and Colbert, social media sources like Facebook and Twitter are by far more popular sources of political information than traditional news outlets.
"When I asked, ‘Do you get information from the cable news networks or the daily news?' That came back as a big 'no,'" Peterson said.
He calls it "The Colbert Effect," and calls those younger followers "generation snark," saying they like getting political news with an edge.
"I think we like to be entertained," said Nick Raoux, a student at Westminster. "I mean, you watch Colbert, you watch Stewart, and it's engaging and it's fun. It's interactive."
Kendall Brannen, a senior at Westminster, said Stewart and Colbert's "main job is to put the issues in the forefront, keep the young demographic up to date with news, and let the watchers make their own decisions."
Universities are well aware of the trend. The U.'s Hinckley Institute of Politics offers an internship at "The Colbert Report." It's become one the program's most coveted, said director Kirk Jowers.
"When you talk to the students here, everything comes through some bit they saw (on Colbert) and Saturday Night Live too, to some extent," Jowers said.
President Barack Obama, whose share of the young support appears to have slipped since 2008, recently appeared on "The Daley Show" — something Romney has not done. But will that matter come Tuesday?
"I really don't think that Stewart or Colbert bend opinions one way or the other way," Peterson said.
"I think that people who watch "The Colbert Report" or Jon Stewart already have their opinions made," Brannen said.
Meantime, another recent study, this one from George Mason University, found late-night comics on shows like "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night with David Letterman" have poked fun at Romney far more frequently this fall than they have Obama, but less than they'd joked about John McCain four years ago.
Arguably, the top political joke target over the last two decades is Bill Clinton.
