Surprise! Republicans Don't Like Stephen Colbert

It's no secret that Stephen Colbert loves a good political joke, and it's no secret that the joke usually comes at the expense of Republicans. Despite joining mainstream late-night television, Colbert hasn't been afraid to step off the apolitical line and take aim at the right. Which undoubtedly would have some kind of impact on viewership. According to The Hollywood Reporter, just 17 percent of Late Show viewers identify as Republicans. Make no mistake here: the GOP ain't down with Colbert.

The Hollywood Reporter late-night poll notes that 47 percent of people watching Colbert are Democrats and 31 percent are Independents. Hollywood Reporter also points out that Colbert's viewers are the most socially liberal of late-night shows. On the flip side, Colbert's competitors, The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, have a much more even breakdown among the three political ideologies. (In case you were wondering, Kimmel, interestingly enough, commands the most conservative audience.)

But does that come as a surprise to anyone? When he ran The Colbert Report, that wasn't Colbert. That was Stephen Col-BERT (emphasis mine), his uber right-wing conservative persona whose fanatic idolization of Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and parodic take on the Republican Party made the Comedy Central series remain a critical success for the entirety of its 10-year run. Republicans have always been a fun Colbert target, and things weren't going to change once he joined up with CBS. And conservatives did not love it when he did.

The Hollywood Reporter found that 43 percent of all late-night viewers polled considered Colbert the most "opinionated," and to be fair, Colbert also takes jabs across the political aisle and isn't afraid to dish it out to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. How could he not make fun of Clinton's fervid mission to attract millennials, like when she asked Twitter users to tweet their feelings about student loan debt using emojis. After all, "nothing shows respect for college-educated voters like asking them to sum up a lifetime of crushing debt in three cartoon faces." I LOL-ed, and I definitely would be considered a left-leaning viewer.

So long as CBS doesn't get any funny ideas about ratings and feel the need to intervene, the absence of Republican viewers shouldn't have an impact on Colbert's material. Take joy in knowing that the Colbert that has come to help redefine the late-night arena will be the Colbert to stay.

And take solace in knowing that even though Republicans are getting their laughs elsewhere, there still is a general consensus among all late-night viewers about a certain Mr. Trump. When asked whether Trump was more qualified to be president or host of a late-night talk show, guess what 69 percent of them chose? The answer is exactly what you think it is.

Images: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert/CBS