How do certain sports fans vote?

[DemocratsVictory2008]

I like all the 4 major sports but i would break it up this way...
MLB- slight DEM
NFL- even
college football- lean GOP
NBA- Strong DEM
NHL- Lean DEM
NASCAR- Solid GOP

[Badger]

One thing most of you haven't taken into account is that sports fans tend to be male - who tend to be more Republican than the general population.  Outside of basketball fans (who skew more African American than other sports fans), I think a majority of sports fans are probably Republican, less so for rich man sports like tennis and golf than for blue collar sports like NASCAR, football and hockey.

True sports nuts - those who go to games - are probably more white, male and Republican than casual sports fans.

T

True dat. Also with the steep cost of most sports tickets today, I'd say at least middle class, wealthier the more frequent one attends.

[Stranger in a strange land]

One thing most of you haven't taken into account is that sports fans tend to be male - who tend to be more Republican than the general population.  Outside of basketball fans (who skew more African American than other sports fans), I think a majority of sports fans are probably Republican, less so for rich man sports like tennis and golf than for blue collar sports like NASCAR, football and hockey.

True sports nuts - those who go to games - are probably more white, male and Republican than casual sports fans.

T

True dat. Also with the steep cost of most sports tickets today, I'd say at least middle class, wealthier the more frequent one attends.

not really, even among whites those with lower incomes tend to be slightly but noticeably more Democratic. Of course, other factors are more important, mainly regional divisions and the urban/rural divide. NASCAR fans, being predominately white southern males, and largely rural and exurban even in areas outside the South, probably vote Republican at roughly the rate blacks vote Democratic. Golf fans are probably Republican in the South, Democratic in the Northeast and West Coast, and split elsewhere. Hockey fans, living as they do in predominately northern states, were probably traditionally labor union-type Democrats, though that may have changed somewhat in recent years.

[DariusNJ]

One thing most of you haven't taken into account is that sports fans tend to be male - who tend to be more Republican than the general population.  Outside of basketball fans (who skew more African American than other sports fans), I think a majority of sports fans are probably Republican, less so for rich man sports like tennis and golf than for blue collar sports like NASCAR, football and hockey.

True sports nuts - those who go to games - are probably more white, male and Republican than casual sports fans.

That's definitely true. For example, people in the crowd at the Super Bowl have to be much wealthier than the average football fan, which probably skews them more Republican, I would think.

[Harry]

In what way are college sports fans more conservative than their pro counterparts?

College students, who make up a disproportionately high percentage of the attendance and fanbase of college teams, are considerably more liberal than the population at large.

Now college baseball, which is really only popular at 5 schools (LSU, Texas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Arkansas) probably has considerably more conservative fans than MLB just because of geography.

[DownWithTheLeft]

If we go by not really fans per se, but people who that sport is their favorite sport:

Baseball: 55/45 GOP
Basketball: 75/25 DEM
Football: 55/45 DEM
Hockey: 60/40 DEM
Golf: 90/10 GOP
NASCAR: 95/5 GOP

[OC]

Nascar crowd: Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Hockey 60/40 GOP
MTV crowd: Football and Basketball  60/40 Labor

[DariusNJ]

Nascar crowd: Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Hockey 60/40 GOP
MTV crowd: Football and Basketball  60/40 Labor

Hockey fans for the GOP? What makes you think that?

[pogo stick]

Baseball is either lean-left or lean right

[Citizen James]

I would think that none of the sports has quite as strong a lean as some of the posters here put.  Assuming that the majority of sports fans are male, that gives you a slight conservative lean right there.

My understanding is that baseball players (and possibly fans as well) tend to lean right politically.  Basketball, having a sizable number of African-American fans probably leans slightly left perhaps even as far as 60-40, though I'm really just guessing.

I would think that football probably cuts across party lines, though the primarily male demographic might give it a slight conservative edge.   

I suspect, as others have mentioned, that hockey leans slightly left simply because of the regional demographics of many of the big teams.

I would guess that soccer (the other football) tends liberal because it is seen as an international sport.

[mgrossbe]

I agree with most of the opinions here regarding the different sports however i differ on baseball. I think it would be wise to seperate pro and college baseball.  Pro baseball is a northeast, great lakes, and west coast sport.  yes there are teams in texas and florida but look at the attendence there, a tcu football game gets a bigger crowds than the atros cards or a usf game gets larger crowds than a marlins braves game.  For this reason and the regionality, if thats a word, i would put pro baseball in a lean dem catergory.  From my experience **** anecdotal**** pro baseball fans tend to be more liberal not just democratic.  Plus college baseball which may sckew statistics if someone ever tried to quantify this is clearly a southern sport, the whole year round thing and all. God we got crushed when we played southern teams during travel teams and aau seasons.  It was not even fair. RAMBLE RAMBLE RAMBLE.

[DariusNJ]

I agree with most of the opinions here regarding the different sports however i differ on baseball. I think it would be wise to seperate pro and college baseball.  Pro baseball is a northeast, great lakes, and west coast sport.  yes there are teams in texas and florida but look at the attendence there, a tcu football game gets a bigger crowds than the atros cards or a usf game gets larger crowds than a marlins braves game.  For this reason and the regionality, if thats a word, i would put pro baseball in a lean dem catergory.  From my experience **** anecdotal**** pro baseball fans tend to be more liberal not just democratic.  Plus college baseball which may sckew statistics if someone ever tried to quantify this is clearly a southern sport, the whole year round thing and all. God we got crushed when we played southern teams during travel teams and aau seasons.  It was not even fair. RAMBLE RAMBLE RAMBLE.

Yeah, all college sports attract a much more conservative audience than their big league counterparts.

If MLB baseball viewers are split politically, then college baseball viewers are pretty conservative without a doubt.

[War on Want]

If we go by not really fans per se, but people who that sport is their favorite sport:

Baseball: 55/45 GOP
Basketball: 75/25 DEM
Football: 55/45 DEM
Hockey: 60/40 DEM
Golf: 90/10 GOP
NASCAR: 95/5 GOP

I would make Golf 75/25, and NASCAR 85/15 and then switch Baseball and Football. Then I would agree with you.

[Prez Duke]

Bush won the election at Wrigley Field in 2004 over Kerry. The fans voted as they entered the gates. I Will wager to say that outside of Hockey and Basketball (because of the African Americans), most sports are more GOP than Democrats. It's simply because more men who love sports tend to be more conservative and "manly" and thus would vote Republican.

I know golf is HEAVILY Republican. It's hard to argue it's a 50/50 split. I believe Billy Andrae was the ONLY registered Democrat on the entire PGA Tour in 2004. I remember that being discussed during a tournament.

[DariusNJ]

Bush won the election at Wrigley Field in 2004 over Kerry. The fans voted as they entered the gates. I Will wager to say that outside of Hockey and Basketball (because of the African Americans), most sports are more GOP than Democrats. It's simply because more men who love sports tend to be more conservative and "manly" and thus would vote Republican.

Really? That's interesting, do you remember the exact results?

I know golf is HEAVILY Republican. It's hard to argue it's a 50/50 split. I believe Billy Andrae was the ONLY registered Democrat on the entire PGA Tour in 2004. I remember that being discussed during a tournament.

Yeah, I always assumed that gold was heavily GOP. Although now I'd think it would be something like 80-20 GOP, while maybe 10 years ago, it would have been 85-15 or maybe even 90-10.

[I'm Not a Witch]

Blah, the best sport isn't even mentioned on here?!

VOLLEYBALL!!

I'm a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, and I'm very liberal, but I don't know how other volleyball fans vote.

[nclib]

Yeah, all college sports attract a much more conservative audience than their big league counterparts.

Is this simply because of urban/rural geography, or is there anything more than that?

[Hatman]

I would think Football is followed by conservatives, because that seems to be the case here in Canada. Hockey is loved by everyone, but I would agree in the US it would be dominated by Democrats. (soccer too)

Baseball... around the world, it is seen by the left as very American, and boring.

Basketball... sucks.

[DariusNJ]

Yeah, all college sports attract a much more conservative audience than their big league counterparts.

Is this simply because of urban/rural geography, or is there anything more than that?

Yeah I would think urban\rural geography is the reason. All 50 states have college sport teams, while the major franchises are only located in big cities. So, for example, if you like watching basketball and you live in Mississippi, your "home team" is in New Orleans or Memphis, which aren't even in the state of Mississippi, obviously. So for a basketball fan in MS, they would rather support a college basketball team like Mississippi State.

Also, tradition is probably a big part of it. Watching college football is a tradition in the South. It has been popular in the South for a LONG time, and most of the college football fans (in the South anyway) are conservatives.

Here's an interesting article I read about the tradition of college football in the South:
http://media.www.westerncarolinian.com/media/storage/paper265/news/2007/09/20/Features/The-Popularity.Of.College.Football.Grows.In.The.South-2978438.shtml

[Daniel Z]

NASCAR probabl has a significant GOP lean, but most other sports probably are no more than 60-40.

[DariusNJ]

Did you guys see the Baseball All-star game? It seemed like a large part of the crowd was booing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXuigXfhwC0

[hcallega]

Did you guys see the Baseball All-star game? It seemed like a large part of the crowd was booing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXuigXfhwC0

That's not because of who he is. It's because of the city which he is "reppin"

For those who aren't as baseball savy as myself (GO SAWX!), Chicago and St. Louis are big rivals. Now I know it's Cubs vs. Cardinals, and not White Sox (Obama's team) vs. Cardinals but the point is that the two cities are rivals.

Also consider this: the all-star game is not the average ball game. The tickets are VERY expensive, and that means that you have a lot of rich white folks who do not very much enjoy President Obama's economic policies. Also, the crowd was probably 60-70% cheering, only that those who were booing likely were a lot louder. Also it's in Missouri, so there's that.

[Badger]

Did you guys see the Baseball All-star game? It seemed like a large part of the crowd was booing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXuigXfhwC0

That's not because of who he is. It's because of the city which he is "reppin"

For those who aren't as baseball savy as myself (GO SAWX!), Chicago and St. Louis are big rivals. Now I know it's Cubs vs. Cardinals, and not White Sox (Obama's team) vs. Cardinals but the point is that the two cities are rivals.

Also consider this: the all-star game is not the average ball game. The tickets are VERY expensive, and that means that you have a lot of rich white folks who do not very much enjoy President Obama's economic policies. Also, the crowd was probably 60-70% cheering, only that those who were booing likely were a lot louder. Also it's in Missouri, so there's that.

Politicians appearing at sporting events are routinely booed far harder than they're cheered.

Not the most typical example, but one of my favorites: ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXNetpeu_mk

By that general standard, and despite all the factors hcallega correctly noted above, I thought the crowd was actually fairly receptive (though obviously not universally so).

[UpcomingYouthvoter]

Bump


I've been on sports forums for while now and they are so conservative that it blows my mind.

NFL 110 Rep/105 Dem

NHL 45 Rep/75 Dem

MLB 73 Rep/50 Dem

NBA 25 Rep/85 Dem


This is just my guess

[Elyski]

I used to play basketball when I was on my high school team, I was pretty good and the team's starting center. Now with that said, my political matrix scores were,
S: 7.5
E: 8.0
So I guess I'm part of the 1% uber conservative basketball players.