Poll: Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert Most Liberal Late-Night Hosts, Samantha Bee Least Popular

Americans view Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert as the most liberal late-night hosts on television, according to a new poll from The Hollywood Reporter.

Some 42 percent of Americans think that both Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert lean liberal. They are closely followed by Jimmy Fallon and Bill Maher, at 40 percent and 36 percent, respectively.

Overall, most Americans think that late-night in general leans left.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Americans overwhelmingly think that the majority of late-night hosts in general tend to lean more to the left politically. Some 50 percent of respondents said late-night hosts are “more liberal” while 12 percent thought these personalities were neutral and 11 percent deemed them “more conservative.”

Finally, the poll’s respondents generally tend to like the major network late-night hosts, while not being fans of the cable news hosts. For instance, only 21 percent of respondents had a favorable impression of TBS host Samantha Bee.

Americans seem to have the most favorable impression of Jimmy Fallon among late-night personalities, with 58 percent of respondents saying they generally like the host. The Tonight Show host is followed by ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel (56 percent favorable), TBS’ Conan O’Brien (48 percent), CBS’ Stephen Colbert (44 percent) and NBC’s Seth Meyers (40 percent).

Meanwhile, 33 percent of respondents viewed HBO’s Bill Maher favorably, with Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah (30 percent), HBO’s John Oliver (28 percent) and TBS’ Samantha Bee (21 percent) trailing by that measure.

The poll’s results are interesting, as Americans seem to view Jimmy Fallon as more liberal than hosts like Samantha Bee and Trevor Noah, both of whom have been far more consistently anti-Trump than Fallon.

Fallon, like all late-night hosts, leans to the left when he discusses politics, but in general is less political.

According to recent television ratings, liberal viewers seem to respond more strongly to more outspoken hosts. Colbert beat Fallon in the major network ratings for the past two years.