Study: Late-night TV comics mock Romney more than Obama

Television's late-night comedians have taken aim at Republicans more often than Democrats in recent weeks, according to a new study released Wednesday.

The study, conducted by The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, focused on jokes about public figures in the opening monologues of Jay Leno ("The Tonight Show"), David Letterman ("Late Show"), Craig Ferguson ("Late Late Show") and Jimmy Fallon ("Late Night") between Aug. 27 and Oct. 3, 2012.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was the target of 148 jokes from those four comedians during that time period, according to the study, while President Barack Obama was the target of 62 jokes.

Overall, there were 293 jokes about Republicans and 138 jokes about Democrats from the four comedians, the study found.

From Leno, Letterman, Fallon and Ferguson combined, there were also 20 jokes about vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, 28 about former President Bill Clinton, 16 targeting Vice President Joe Biden and 14 about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

There were also 39 jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger, 19 about Prince Harry, 15 about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and 18 about actor Clint Eastwood.