Most people who follow politics get their information from TV, the internet, and/or papers and magazines. They don't get their information from Stewart, Chris Rock, or any other comedian.
And no, the political spoutings of standup comics do not have a great effect on society in the political sense. They make people laugh (if they are funny). They don't affect elections and they have zero impact on public policy.
THAT is the key there - most people aren't glued to politics like we are. And most people that ARE glued to politics already know now who they're voting for in 2016. You don't follow politics 1-2 hours a day because you don't identify with policies of one party or another.
The SWING voters are those american idol watching, low info voters that choose the president based upon who is hipper, who doesn't mistreat his dog, who hasn't done cocaine, etc. And YES, for that middle 10% of the population, there's a darn good chance they watch more Jon Stewart than Bill OReilly.
So yeah - I think this discussion has evolved to a point where we've shown comedians DO have a big effect on elections. Swing voters decide in the weeks before an election who they'll vote for. They don't watch GOp debates, they don't know about benghazi. They watch tosh.0 on comedy central then learn their news from jon stewart.
BB, sorry to tell you this, but you're among educated people that understand politics. You are smarter than the avg american. Whether you agree with people here, or think they're idiots, they're still way better informed than the average swing voters. They're not the brightest, but they do decide elections. They voted Reagan, clinton, Bush and obama. They'll pick the next prez too! it sure won't be Chris matthews or Mark Levin converting those swing voters - it'll be colbert and stewart.
