Congratulations Morning Consult, you misreported your own poll. This morning the outlet reported a new poll with the headline: “Audiences want ‘Saturday Night Live’ to keep ribbing Trump.” But their own numbers tell a different story.
While President Trump can’t take a joke and often criticizes the comics, it turns out that he’s not a bad judge of humor. Morning Consult’s own numbers suggest that slightly more viewers want “SNL” to move on past Trump than want the show to keep the Trump joke going.
Without funny business, here’s the real math.
It’s true that 33 percent of respondents say they crack up at Trump skits and “would like to see more of them.” Another 19 percent say they enjoyed the jokes but “would like ‘SNL’ to focus on something else.” On top of that, a different 16 percent say they have “not enjoyed the impersonations of the members of President Trump’s administration.” (31 percent don’t have any impression.)
Regardless of whether they laughed in the past, that means that 35 percent of viewers want the satire show to move on from the White House — compared to the 33 percent who want more. That’s within the poll’s margin of error, but hardly the call for “More Trump” that the headline suggests.
Still finding new material will be tough and a business gamble. Thanks to Trump, “Saturday Night Live” has enjoyed its highest ratings in six years. Put another way, the comedians haven’t been this funny since Sarah Palin rapped about Inuits and snow machines back in 2008. And a month after the 2016 election, the show continues to churn out political humor.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.