Hollywood Reporter Survey: Ratings-Plagued Colbert Mostly Liked By Democrats and Atheists

It's two months into his new gig at CBS's "Late Show," and Stephen Colbert has dropped to third place in the ratings behind NBC's "Tonight Show" and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Kimmel's first-ever besting of Colbert came as a result of his interview with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, The New York Daily News reports, and it may not hold. But a new survey by The Hollywood Reporter shows Colbert may be pushing away potential viewers on the right.

Most of Colbert's viewers skew liberal and atheist, according to the poll, while "Tonight's" Jimmy Fallon and Kimmel draw about a third each of Republicans, Democrats and independents.

Here's how Colbert's viewers identify:

• Democrat: 47 percent
• Independent: 31 percent
• Republican: 17 percent

Colbert also has far fewer Fox News viewers than Fallon and Kimmel.

Fallon:

• CNN: 26 percent
• Fox News: 18 percent
• MSNBC: 12 percent

Kimmel:

• CNN: 24 percent
• Fox News: 21 percent
• MSNBC: 10 percent

Colbert:

• CNN: 28 percent
• MSNBC: 17 percent
• Fox News: 14 percent

Colbert is a practicing Catholic and talks about his faith on his show, as he did on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," where he portrayed a conservative pundit modeled on Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

But his viewers are heavily atheist, as could be seen earlier this week when he debated atheist Bill Maher on his own show. Colbert's audience cheered loudest for Maher's arguments.

The results on religious affiliation:

Kimmel:

• Protestant: 41 percent
• Catholic: 28 percent
• Atheist: 16 percent

Fallon:

• Protestant: 37 percent
• Catholic: 29 percent
• Atheist: 14 percent

Colbert:

• Atheist: 30 percent
• Protestant: 28 percent
• Catholic: 18 percent

Writing at Mediaite, Joe Concha notes that Colbert is best at political satire and substantive interviews with politicians, but that he "has shown almost no willingness to hit both sides of the aisle even close to equally."

That, Concha argues, is driving away Republican viewers.

The Hollywood Reporter's survey was conducted by Penn Schoen Berland between November 6 and 10. It spoke to 1,000 late-night viewers ages 18 to 65 divided equally between men and women.

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