Jimmy Kimmel emerged as more popular than Donald Trump after a spat with the president’s administration temporarily left the talkshow host off the air in September, according to a recent poll.
The survey, published by the Economist and YouGov, asked 1,656 adults in the US whether they viewed Kimmel and Trump favorably. Kimmel registered a net favorability of +3 after 44% of respondents indicated they viewed him favorably, 41% unfavorably and 15% undecided.
Trump, meanwhile, had a net favorability of -13, with 41% viewing him favorably, 54% unfavorably and 5% undecided. That left Trump at a 16-point deficit in terms of popularity to Kimmel, whose suspension and subsequent reinstatement by ABC delighted and then rankled the president.
The Economist and YouGov took the survey in question between 26 and 29 September.
Kimmel’s suspension was announced on 17 September after criticizing the Trump administration’s response to the previous week’s killing of rightwing political activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, a regulator loyal to Trump, had threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates unless the network took action against Kimmel.
The move fueled protests, free-speech concerns and calls to boycott products of ABC’s owner, Disney. ABC then reinstated Kimmel six days later, with his industry peers crediting that development to those who had boycotted Disney.
And by 26 September, two companies that own a combined 70 ABC affiliates and had continued keeping Kimmel’s show off its airwaves despite the host’s reinstatement agreed to broadcast it again, ensuring the comedian had fully come back.
Trump at first had hailed ABC’s yanking Kimmel off the air as being “great news for America”. Later faced with the host’s reinstatement, Trump wrote on social media: “I can’t believe ABC … gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back” and insulted the network as “a true bunch of losers!”
Kimmel’s first monologue after his return to the air became his most watched ever on YouTube, raking in more than 15m views on the platform in its first 16 hours there.
During the monologue, Kimmel clarified his stance on Kirk’s death, saying in part: “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
Kimmel also said his suspension was “anti-American”.
“This show is not important,” Kimmel remarked at the time. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
