Election Satire: The Evolution of The Daily Show as a Cultural Artifact Reflecting Democratic Processes

The Trump era marked a turning point for political satire, where The Daily Show’s coverage of the last two election cycles reveals a dynamic interplay between satire, ideology, and democratic processes. This study examines how The Daily Show has progressively altered its satirical voice and multimodal strategies to capture the changing landscape of U.S. presidential elections, spotlighting the different eras of Trevor Noah in 2020 and Jon Stewart in 2024. It decodes how news satire along with visuals reflect political and cultural moments, and the way social and political representations are depicted in this show. To achieve these aims, a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) approach is used to analyze the semiotic and multimodal features of four episodes of The Daily Show, ranging from Noah’s pandemic-era coverage of the 2020 elections to Stewart’s live studio format in 2024. This article reveals both hosts’ role in social and political representation by different means of satirical and multimodal techniques. It highlights how The Daily Show has remained a cultural touchstone, adapting its style and substance to meet the demands of its time.