I think its a bit of both when I think about it. It does get information out there. Like Jon Stewart's old show, some people never even hear about the issues Trump is affecting if they didn't hear a sketch satirizing it on a comedy show. I think it also shows them that there is an alternative position held by a lot of people. I think some living in the 'heart of America' only get RW hate radio and Fox News to tell them what is going on.
But the flip side is that it creates caricatures, light funny versions, of very real dangerous, powerful individuals. Sure it ridicules them, but mostly their personal mannerisms, any funny way they look or hold their face or speak. The SNL actors become entertaining versions of the real thing and to some extent overshadow and hide the real version. And this caricature version is a stripped down simplistic version that hardly skims the surface of what is beneath. The caricature humanizes and defines the real persons in ways to get a laugh only. Make no mistake, SNL is going for laughs first, messaging later.
Alex Baldwin makes Trump into an idiot. Much like they did with Bush Jr. He's even somewhat sympathetic in a way in that he is portrayed as a bumbling fool who just can't help it. Continuing in the traditional comedic vein of the big goofy white male like Homer Simpson etc. And we don't hate Homer at all. We wouldn't want to be his neighbor, like Flanders, or his co-worker, but he becomes a safe character to laugh at from a distance as a harmless fool.
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