Abstract
In an effort to tease out possible expressions of dispositional differences in people of different political ideologies, this study uses media preference and consumption data from the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES08-Online) to examine characteristics of audiences for a range of television shows and genres. The individual shows include two political satires, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report; a late-night comedy/variety show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; a hospital-based ensemble situation comedy, Scrubs; two animated comedies, The Simpsons, and The Family Guy; and two action-oriented dramas, 24, and CSI: Miami. The genres include comedies, dramas, sports and documentaries. The results of a series of one-way ANOVAs and regression analyses supported the hypotheses that conservatives do not enjoy humor as much as liberals, and that they enjoy political humor even less than non-political humor.
Recommended Citation
Gans, Roger
(2015)
"Can’t Take a Joke? The Asymmetrical Nature of the Politicized Sense of Humor,"
Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association: Vol. 2014, Article 2.
Available at:
https://docs.rwu.edu/nyscaproceedings/vol2014/iss1/2