GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- With the Summer Olympics officially beginning today in Sydney, Australia, a new Gallup poll shows that Americans are very aware of the Games, with about three in four (74%) able to identify that they are being held in Australia, and more than half of these explicitly mentioning the host city of Sydney. About one in six Americans (17%) can be classified as devoted fans, expecting to watch "a great deal" of the Olympic events, while another 42% expect to watch "a fair amount." Twenty-eight percent say they will watch only a little, and 12% will avoid watching the Games altogether.
Overall, about half of Americans -- 51% -- say it is either very (17%) or somewhat (34%) important that the United States win the most medals in the Olympics, but these views are highly related to how much of the extravaganza Americans expect to watch. The more events people expect to watch, the more they think it is important for the U.S. to emerge the winner. Among the small group of devoted fans, for example, more than three-quarters (78%) say it is important for the U.S. to win the most medals, compared with 57% who feel that way among people who expect to watch the Games a fair amount, 36% among those who will watch only a little, and just 27% among those who do not expect to watch the Games at all.
Many sporting events have significantly different audiences by age group, but the Olympics appear to have a very broad cross-generational appeal, from young to old Americans -- just about as many 18- to 29-year-olds say that they will be watching the Games as do those 65 and older.
Popularity of Events Different for Men and
Women
In the poll, Gallup asked Americans to identify their favorite
Summer Olympic event. The most popular events are track and field,
mentioned by 22% of all respondents, swimming (mentioned by 18%)
and gymnastics (17%). Basketball and diving are each mentioned by
5% of the public, with soccer (3%) and baseball (2%) essentially
tied for sixth place. All other events were mentioned by 1% or
fewer respondents.
While men and women are about equally likely to watch the Olympics, they are attracted to different events. Men are much more likely (31%) to cite track and field events as their favorite than are women (13%). Men are also more likely than women to mention basketball, by a 9% to 2% margin. On the other hand, women are much greater fans than men of swimming (by a 23% to 12% margin) and gymnastics (26% to 8%).
Survey Methods
The results reported here are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,008 adults, 18 years and older, conducted September 11-13, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Do you by chance know where the 2000 Olympics are being held this month?
|
Correct response |
Partially correct |
Incorrect |
No opinion |
|
|
Sydney, Australia |
Australia |
|||
|
2000 Sep |
44% |
30 |
3 |
23 |
|
Helsinki, Finland |
Europe |
|||
|
1952 Jun |
28% |
4 |
27 |
41 |
|
London |
England |
|||
|
1948 Jul |
20% |
17 |
12 |
51 |
Thinking about the Summer Olympics, which are going to be held in Sydney, Australia this month -- how important is it to you that the United States win more medals than any other country at these Summer Olympics -- very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not important at all?
|
|
|
|
Not important |
|
|
|
2000 Sep 11-13 |
17% |
34 |
28 |
20 |
1 |
|
1996 Jun 18-19 ^ |
21% |
34 |
25 |
19 |
1 |
|
^ Asked of Atlanta Summer Olympic Games1996 |
|||||
How much of the Olympics do you intend to watch -- a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or none at all?
|
A great deal |
A fair amount |
Not much |
None at all |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 Sep 11-13 |
17% |
42 |
28 |
12 |
1 |
What is your favorite Summer Olympic event? [Open-ended]
|
|
2000 Sep 11-13 |
|
|
Net Track and Field |
22% |
|
|
Track and Field (non-specific) |
(19) |
|
|
100 Meter Run |
(1) |
|
|
Decathlon |
(1) |
|
|
Pole Vault |
(1) |
|
|
Other Track |
(*) |
|
|
Swimming |
18 |
|
|
Gymnastics |
17 |
|
|
Basketball |
5 |
|
|
Diving |
5 |
|
|
Soccer |
3 |
|
|
Skating |
2 |
|
|
Baseball |
2 |
|
|
Other |
8 |
|
|
Any/All |
1 |
|
|
None |
10 |
|
|
No opinion |
7 |
|
* Less than 0.5%
