NPR: The Colbert "Bump" and Democratic Fundraising

The Colbert "Bump" and Democratic Fundraising

File this under wikiality ...

Comedian Stephen Colbert, that master of truthiness ("Truthiness is what you want the facts to be, as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support," according to Colbert), has always claimed that an appearance on his show, The Colbert Report, results in a "bump" in popularity or book sales for that particular individuals. Then again, anyone who hosts a TV show that includes an interview segment is going to make that claim.

But it turns out it may be true ... for Democrats anyway.

University of California at San Diego political science professor James Folwer has written a tongue-in-cheek but legitimately researched article for Political Science & Politics that looks at donations to politicians before and after an appearance on Colbert's show. And he says his research shows that Democratic candidates who went on the air with Colbert saw a (get ready now ...) 44 percent increase in their donations.

Republicans, however, saw no similar increase in their funding ... which may tell us a lot about just who does watch Colbert.

According to Fowler:

"In this article I use "facts" (sorry, Stephen) provided by the Federal Election Commission to create a matched control group of candidates who have never appeared on The Colbert Report. I then compare the personal campaign donations they receive to those received by candidates who have appeared on the program's segment "Better Know a District." The results show that Democratic candidates who appear on the Report receive a statistically significant "Colbert bump" in campaign donations, raising 44 percent more money in a 30-day period after appearing on a show. However, there is no evidence of a similar boost for Republicans. These results constitute the first scientific evidence of Stephen Colbert's influence on political campaigns."

Then again, appearing on the show is a double-edged sword. As Fowler notes in the article, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi warned her fellow politicians in 2006 about doing so.

"I wouldn't recommend that anyone go on the show," said Pelosi. "I would think it would be okay to go on if you were live to tape, but don't subject yourself to a comic's edit unless you want to be made a fool of," she said.

Then again, for a 44 percent increase in contributions ... might interest a certain New York Senator who is being outspent two to one on TV ads in Pennsylvania, for instance.

Hat tip to Robert Smith

7:30 AM ET | 04-11-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

The teaser on your homepage identifies Fowler as a UCSB prof, but your blog entry says he's from UCSD. Which is it?
As a proud UCSD grad, I'm sensitive about such things. :) Thanks, Larry Montali

Sent by Larry Montali | 9:36 AM ET | 04-11-2008

Good catch Larry. You are indeed correct it is UCSD. Change made.

Tom Regan
Host blogs

Sent by Tom Regan | 9:43 AM ET | 04-11-2008

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