Abstract In this paper we explore the creation of jokes told on late night talk shows targeted at major party nominees for president from 1992–2008. We hypothesize that the number of jokes told about candidates are related to variations in polling numbers, mainstream media coverage, and party identification of the candidates. Our results show a positive relationship between the number of jokes told at a candidate’s expense and the amount of negative news coverage about the candidate. In addition, we find that Republicans are targeted with more frequency than Democrats. Results suggest that favorability ratings and whether or not a presidential candidate is an incumbent has no effect on the number of jokes targeting a candidate.

中文翻译：

---

研究报告：关于总统候选人的负面新闻和深夜喜剧

摘要 在本文中，我们探讨了在针对 1992 年至 2008 年主要政党候选人的深夜脱口秀节目中讲述的笑话的创作。我们假设，关于候选人的笑话数量与投票人数、主流媒体报道和候选人的政党身份的变化有关。我们的结果表明，以候选人为代价讲的笑话数量与有关候选人的负面新闻报道数量之间存在正相关关系。此外，我们发现共和党人比民主党人更频繁地成为目标。结果表明，好感度以及总统候选人是否在任对针对候选人的笑话数量没有影响。