The Colbert Bump in Campaign Donations

For some time now, Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report, has touted the fact that candidates who appear on his show receive a significant bump in campaign donations afterwards.  James H. Fowler (University of California) examines this recent phenomenon in his paper The Colbert Bump in Campaign Donations: More Truthful than Truthy.  Democrats who appear on The Colbert Report enjoy “a significant increase in the number and total amount of donations they receive in the next 30–40 days, compared to similar candidates who do not appear on the show. “  Surprisingly, Republicans get a pre-Colbert bump.  Fowler advises “not to read too much into these results,” yielding that The Colbert bump may be one of many factors involved.  [RJ]