GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Spring is one of the best times of the year for sports fans. Baseball season is getting into swing, and professional basketball and hockey are in the midst of their playoffs. But, a fall sport finds the most favor with Americans. In a Gallup poll conducted March 30-April 2, 2000, 33% of the public says that football is their favorite sport to watch. Basketball and baseball trail by considerable margins, favored by 16% and 13% of Americans, respectively. No other sport is favored by more than 5% of Americans: Ice hockey, golf and auto racing are each cited by 5% of the public, while figure skating is picked by 4%. Soccer, commonly known to be the most popular sport internationally, is favored by only 2% of Americans.
Americans have been saying that football is their favorite sport to watch for some time. Gallup polls dating back to 1972 all show football outranking every other sport as Americans' favorite. Football's hold on the American public is further demonstrated by the fact that it wins across all significant demographic significant groups: Gender, race, age, and income.
The "National Pastime"?
Baseball is often referred to as the "national pastime," so the
fact that football is more often mentioned as Americans' favorite
sport is inconsistent with that moniker. However, this nickname
does have some basis in fact. In the past, Americans rated baseball
as their favorite sport by a wide margin over any other sport. For
example, a 1948 Gallup Poll showed 39% of Americans baseball as
their favorite, compared to only 17% for professional football and
10% for professional basketball. Since that time, however, the
percentage of Americans naming baseball as their favorite sport has
declined steadily, down to 13% today. By 1972, football surpassed
baseball as Americans' favorite, and continues to be the top choice
of about one-third of Americans. Basketball has also risen in
popularity such that it is now on par with baseball, each being
favored by about 15% of Americans.
Even though baseball is clearly no longer America's favorite sport, a substantial percentage of Americans consider themselves fans. The most recent Gallup Poll finds that 55% of Americans admit to being baseball fans to some degree (either a "fan" or "somewhat of a fan"). Baseball has apparently regained some of the popularity it lost during the strike-torn seasons of 1994 and 1995, when only a minority of Americans claimed to be baseball fans (as low as 41% in April 1995).
Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 998 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted March 30 - April 2, 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.
What is your favorite sport to watch?
| 2000 Mar |
1998 Nov |
1997 Apr** |
1995 Apr |
1994 Sep |
1994 Aug |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | 33% | 36% | 30% | 32% | 37% | 35% |
| Basketball | 16 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 11 |
| Baseball | 13 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 21 |
| Ice hockey | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Golf | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Auto Racing | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ice/ Figure Skating | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Soccer | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Boxing | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tennis | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Wrestling | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | 1 |
| Gymnastics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | * |
| Bowling | * | 1 | * | 1 | * | * |
| Fishing | * | 1 | * | 1 | * | * |
| Swimming | * | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Horse Racing | -- | * | 1 | 0 | 0 | * |
| OTHER | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| NONE | 8 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 10 |
| No opinion | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
** Question wording:What is your favorite sport to watch?
LONG TERM TREND
| Football | Baseball | Basketball | Tennis | Golf | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | |
| 2000 Mar 30- Apr 2 | 33 | 13 | 15 | 1 | 5 |
| 1998 Nov 20-22 | 36 | 16 | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| 1997 Apr 18-20** | 30 | 14 | 17 | 2 | 5 |
| 1995 Apr 17-19 | 32 | 16 | 15 | 2 | 4 |
| 1994 Sep | 37 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 3 |
| 1994 Aug | 35 | 21 | 11 | 2 | 3 |
| 1992 Sept | 38 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 3 |
| 1990 Feb | 35 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 2 |
| 1981 | 38 | 16 | 9 | -- | -- |
| 1972 | 36 | 21 | 8 | -- | -- |
| 1960 | 21 | 34 | 9 | -- | -- |
| 1948 | 17 | 39 | 10 | -- | -- |
** Question wording:What is your favorite sport to follow?
What is your favorite sport to watch? (March 30-April 2, 2000)
| Football | Basketball | Baseball | |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 42 | 13 | 11 |
| Female | 25 | 19 | 14 |
| Race | |||
| White | 33 | 14 | 14 |
| Non-white | 34 | 28 | 6 |
| Age | |||
| 18-29 | 39 | 17 | 7 |
| 30-49 | 34 | 16 | 12 |
| 50-64 | 32 | 13 | 13 |
| 65+ | 23 | 16 | 19 |
| Income | |||
| Under $20 K | 35 | 16 | 9 |
| $20-$30 K | 35 | 19 | 12 |
| $30-$50K | 37 | 16 | 11 |
| $50K+ | 31 | 16 | 15 |
For each of the following, please say whether you are a fan of that sport or not. First, … [RANDOM ORDER]
| A. Professional baseball | |||
| Yes, a fan |
SOMEWHAT A FAN OF (vol.) |
No, not a fan |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| 2000 Mar 30- Apr 2 | 45 | 10 | 45 |
| 1999 Nov 18-21 | 45 | 16 | 39 |
| 1999 Oct 21-24 | 37 | 10 | 53 |
| 1999 July 13-14 | 40 | 19 | 41 |
| 1999 Mar 19-21 | 34 | 15 | 51 |
| 1998 Oct 9-12 | 47 | 14 | 39 |
| 1998 Sep 14-15 | 45 | 18 | 37 |
| 1998 Jun 22-23 | 34 | 10 | 56 |
| 1996 Mar 15-17 | 38 | 10 | 52 |
| 1995 Oct 5-7 | 34 | 8 | 58 |
| 1995 Jul 7-9 | 35 | 13 | 52 |
| 1995 May 11-14 | 35 | 10 | 55 |
| 1995 Apr 17-19 | 32 | 9 | 59 |
| 1995 Feb 24-26 | 37 | 12 | 51 |
| 1995 Jan 16-18 | 37 | 8 | 55 |
| 1994 Oct 17-19 | 39 | 9 | 52 |
| 1994 Sep 6-7 | 35 | 11 | 54 |
| 1994 Aug 15-16 | 39 | 10 | 51 |
| 1994 Aug 8-9 | 35 | 30 | 45 |
| 1993 May 21-23 | 39 | 10 | 51 |
| 1993 Feb 12-14 | 44 | 7 | 49 |
| B. Professional basketball | |||
| % | % | % | |
| 2000 Mar 30- Apr 2 | 38 | 8 | 54 |
| 99 Jan 15-17 | 31 | 11 | 58 |
| 99 Jan 6 | 29 | 12 | 59 |
| 98 Oct 9-12 | 36 | 10 | 54 |
| 94 Mar 11-13 | 32 | 11 | 57 |
| C. Professional golf | |||
| % | % | % | |
| 2000 Mar 30- Apr 2 | 26 | 8 | 66 |