Americans prefer political victory over sports championship run: Poll
Male respondents skewed more in favor of sports glory
With the 2020 presidential election less than a year away, Americans are more invested in their preferred candidates than they are in their favorite pro sports team’s championship hopes, according to poll results released by Seton Hall University on Friday.
Nearly three in four Americans (74 percent) said they would rather see their candidate win the presidency in 2020. Just 19 percent of respondents said they would prefer to see their favorite team win the Super Bowl or World Series, while 6 percent were undecided or had no opinion.
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Male respondents skewed more in favor of sports glory, with 28 percent preferring a title run compared to 64 percent in favor of their candidate for the White House. By comparison, 84 percent of women would rather see their preferred political figure in the Oval Office than their favorite team hoisting a trophy.
“In the last two presidential elections voter turnout has been between 58 and 60 percent,” said Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall Sports Poll, which is sponsored by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that many men care more about the outcome of a baseball or a football season than the political future of the country – but it is alarming.”
President Trump will face a Democratic challenger from a field of more than a dozen candidates that includes former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren in November 2020.
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Ongoing impeachment hearings regarding Trump’s alleged bid to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate the Biden family haven’t attracted the same attention as recent sporting events, according to the poll’s results.
Asked if they had spent more time watching sports, entertainment shows or the impeachment hearings over the last week, 40 percent of respondents said they were tuned in to entertainment options. More than a quarter (28 percent) watched more sports, while just 21 percent said the impeachment hearings took precedence.
The poll surveyed 712 adult Americans around the country by telephone from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20. Results had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.