{"id":33979,"date":"2023-05-29T23:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=33979"},"modified":"2023-07-02T07:50:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T07:50:55","slug":"not-all-political-comedy-is-equal-how-comics-can-either-depress-turnout-or-activate-voters-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/not-all-political-comedy-is-equal-how-comics-can-either-depress-turnout-or-activate-voters-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Not all political comedy is equal \u2013 how comics can either depress turnout or activate voters in\u00a02024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sophia A. McClennen<\/a>, Penn State<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden is old. Trump has weird hair. Biden mangles the English language. Trump barely seems to understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no question that it is easy to make fun of the two top presidential candidates for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as I explain in my new book, \u201cTrump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn\u2019t<\/a>,\u201d not all political comedy is equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jokes that focus on physical traits \u2013 fat bellies, bald heads, bumbling speech \u2013 foster negative candidate views that can exhaust voters, as does mocking scandals, whether it\u2019s the mishandling of classified documents, sexual misconduct or family drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, satire \u2013 which centers on faulty logic, abuses of power and flawed thinking \u2013 can compel citizens to volunteer, donate to campaigns and vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Averting apathy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A key factor to watch this election cycle is voter fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was record turnout<\/a> during the 2020 election. Nearly two-thirds of eligible voters cast a vote, 7 percentage points higher than in 2016. However, recent polling data<\/a> suggests that 2024 may be different, with 38% of voters saying they were already exhausted at the prospect of another matchup between Trump and Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voter fatigue<\/a> typically translates into lower voter turnout, and low voter turnout correlates to weaker democratic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where comedy comes in. Humor can alleviate<\/a> depression, fear, sadness and other negative emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The catch, though, is that even if humor combats exhaustion, it might replace it with negative views of the candidates and cynicism about the entire democratic system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mocking leads to burnout<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Political comedy is complex and highly varied, but it can be divided roughly into two camps: mockery<\/a> and satire<\/a>. Mocking comedy tends to negatively affect political participation in two ways. It can create negative views of candidates, and this, in turn, can lead to voter apathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communications professor S. Robert Lichter and political scientists Jody C. Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris surveyed years of joke data in their 2015 book<\/a>, \u201cPolitics is a Joke!\u201d They concluded that the political humor on late-night television was inherently negative and tended to focus more on scandals than on policy. What\u2019s more, they found that there was a connection between negative jokes and negative public perceptions of candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The catch, though, is that voter apathy will happen only if voters feel burned out by both candidates, because that leads to exhaustion with the system they represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2008 election, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin found herself the butt of countless jokes, while then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, were largely able to duck the searing critiques of comics. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vSOLz1YBFG0?wmode=transparent&start=0 Tina Fey\u2019s first impression of Sarah Palin aired on \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 in September 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research shows that<\/a> Tina Fey\u2019s impression of Palin on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d as a fool who was ill-equipped for national office changed perceptions of Palin \u2013 and, most importantly, were even more likely to negatively affect the views of independents and Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Trump was elected in 2016, some worried<\/a> that late-night comedy had become too partisan, which could make it less effective and more divisive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, concerns that late night leans too much to the left \u2013 and therefore has a negative effect on politics \u2013 may miss the fact that jokes that mock Trump can help remind Democrats that they don\u2019t want him back in office. Similarly, right-wing memes and mockery of Biden \u2013 the sort of humor that can be found on Greg Gutfeld\u2019s comedy show on Fox News<\/a> \u2013 can motivate Trump voters to support their candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, it is the jokes that suggest that both candidates are not worth voting for that have the highest risk of depressing turnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man
Some see \u2018Gutfeld!\u2019 as a conservative answer to the left-leaning bias of late-night television. Steven Ferdman\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Satire spurs voter engagement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In contrast with mocking, negative comedy, satirical comedy uses ironic wit to engage critical thinking about the status quo. This means that there is a marked difference between most late-night comedy and the specific genre of political satire, which can be found on \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d and \u201cLast Week Tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research by communication professors Hoon Lee and Nojin Kwak<\/a> indicated that satirical comedy engages viewers and makes them more interested in being politically active. Another recent study<\/a> found that humor increases the likelihood to share political information with others and enhances information recall \u2013 both of which increase voter engagement. And audiences of political satire have been shown<\/a> to have more confidence in their political views and a better understanding of the issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, satirical comedy creates a community ready to engage and participate in politics. In her 2011 book \u201cSatire and Dissent<\/a>,\u201d English professor Amber Day explains that satirical comedy has \u201can integral community-building function, which is a crucial component of nurturing a political movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Porta
Joe Biden is targeted with some good old-fashioned toilet humor. Joseph Prezioso\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Trump was elected in 2016, left-wing filmmaker and activist Michael Moore called for Trump\u2019s critics to form an army of comedy<\/a>. He knew from his own work as a satirist and activist that politically engaged comedy can help mobilize communities. Academic research confirms<\/a> Moore\u2019s instincts, showing that people who consume satire are more likely to attend rallies, discuss politics, donate to a political party, wear political buttons and vote than viewers of traditional late-night comedy shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When actor Kal Penn guest hosted \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d in March 2023, he did a segment<\/a> on how the Republican Party is fixated on \u201cwoke culture.\u201d He performed a spoof of the hit TV series \u201cHouse,\u201d in which he tries to diagnose a patient with \u201cwoke mind virus,\u201d asking the patient questions like, \u201cAre you pissed off that Mr. Potato Head doesn\u2019t have a penis?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then jokingly explains that being woke \u201cis the greatest threat facing civilization\u201d \u2013 a position held by many on the right, but one that becomes especially absurd in the context of Penn\u2019s skit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These kinds of bits have the potential to help the young voting demographic watching these clips engage with the election and vote. They also help frame political positions in ways that make the stakes of the next election easy to grasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as an exhausted electorate heads into the 2024 election, the question won\u2019t be whether there will be political comedy \u2013 it will be whether it mocks the country\u2019s democratic system or helps make it stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophia A. McClennen<\/a>, Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature, Penn State<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State Biden is old. Trump has weird hair. Biden mangles the English language. Trump barely seems to understand it. There\u2019s no question that it is easy to make fun of the two top presidential candidates for 2024. But as I explain in my new book, \u201cTrump Was a Joke: How Satire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":33980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[837,6251,479,13241,9031,7014,4586,7046,7269,14097,5098,209,13987,3332,3012,536,14128,14129,795],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34287,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979\/revisions\/34287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}