Figure Skating Tops List of Americans' Favorite Winter Olympic Events

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The 19th Winter Olympic Games begin today in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the latest Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans will watch at least a fair amount of the Olympics. Figure skating figures to attract more viewers than any other event, as that sport is easily the nation's favorite Winter Olympic event, mainly due to the fact that nearly half of women cite figure skating as their favorite. On a more serious note, only about one in 10 Americans say that a terrorist attack is likely to occur at the Olympics, nearly identical to the percentage who thought this just prior to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

The poll, conducted Feb. 4-6, shows that 20% of Americans say they will watch a "a great deal" of the Olympics and 38% will watch "a fair amount." Four in 10 Americans will watch little or none of the Games.

How Much of the Winter Olympics Do You Intend to Watch?

Feb. 4-6, 2002

While the Olympics take place, women are more likely than men to be paying attention, as 25% of women but only 15% of men plan to watch a great deal of the Winter Games. Older Americans (those aged 65 and older) are twice as likely to say they will watch a great deal of the Olympics as are younger Americans (those aged 18 to 29). About one in four Americans residing in the Eastern and in the Western parts of the nation say they will watch a great deal of the Olympics, compared to just 15% of those living in the Midwest and 17% of those in the South.

How much of the Winter Olympics do you intend to watch -- a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or none at all?

 

	Gender		Age				Region
	Male	Female	18-29	30-49	50-64	65+	East	Midwest	South	West
A great deal	15%	25%	14%	19%	21%	30%	23%	15%	17%	26%
A fair amount	38	38	45	37	35	36	38	35	43	35
Not much	37	27	34	34	31	26	28	38	31	32
None at all	10	10	7	10	13	8	11	12	9	7

Figure Skating Is Americans' Favorite Event

The poll asked Americans, without any prompting, to name their single favorite event. One in three Americans mentioned figure skating, easily putting it at the top of the list. Downhill skiing was next, mentioned as the favorite sport by 23% of Americans. Bobsledding and hockey followed, with 8% and 7% of the public, respectively, naming these as their favorite sports. Among the other sports mentioned are luge (3%), ski jumping (3%), and snowboarding (2%), one of the Olympics' newer events.

What is your favorite Winter Olympic event?

Feb. 4-6, 2002

Figure skating's status as the most favored event is mainly a result of women's strong preference for that sport. Nearly half of women, 49%, say figure skating is their favorite event, easily outdistancing the runner-up, downhill skiing, which is named by 18%. No other sport receives even 5% mention from women.

Women: What is your favorite Winter Olympic event?

Feb. 4-6, 2002

Men's preferences are more varied. Among men, downhill skiing is the favorite sport, mentioned by 29%. Figure skating (13%), bobsledding (12%) and hockey (12%) are men's next most favorite events, although all place well behind downhill skiing. Four percent of men say they most enjoy ski jumping and luge.

Men: What is your favorite Winter Olympic event?

Feb. 4-6, 2002

While figure skating is the favored event among all age groups, older Americans are much more likely to say it is their favorite event. Forty percent of those aged 65 and older prefer figure skating, compared to 34% of 50- to 64-year-olds, 30% of 30- to 49-year-olds, and just 24% of 18- to 29-year-olds. Among those aged 18-29, downhill skiing is favored nearly as much as figure skating is (22% compared to 24%, respectively). Younger Americans are also far more likely than any other age group to name bobsledding as their favorite event, and nearly all those who prefer snowboarding are in the youngest age category.

Few Think a Terrorist Attack "Very Likely" to Occur at Olympics

The federal government and the organizers of the Olympics have increased security in order to prevent a terrorist attack from occurring during the Games. Since Sept. 11, Americans' concern about terrorism has steadily declined. Only about one in three Americans are now worried about themselves or a family member being the victim of terrorism, unchanged since late November, and down significantly since early October, when over half of Americans expressed worry.

When asked about the likelihood of a terrorist attack occurring at the Winter Olympic Games, only 11% say this is very likely, while 37% say it is somewhat likely. Half of Americans think a terrorist attack is unlikely to occur during the Winter Games. These results are surprisingly similar to those from a question asked at the beginning of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which were marred by a bombing attack. The July 20-21, 1996 poll showed that 13% of Americans thought it was very likely and 38% thought it was somewhat likely that a terrorist attack of some sort would occur at the Olympics in Atlanta. However, it should be pointed out that concern about terrorism, as measured by people's concern about being the victim of terrorism, was actually slightly higher in July 1996 than it is now. At that time, 13% were very worried and 26% were somewhat worried about being the victim of terrorism, compared to 8% and 27% now.

Terrorist Attack at the Olympics?

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Feb. 4-6, 2002. 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.

Finally, thinking for a moment about the Winter Olympic Games beginning this Friday in Salt Lake City,

 

How much of the Winter Olympics do you intend to watch -- a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or none at all?

 

		A great deal	Fair amount	Not much	None at all	No opinion
2002 Feb 4-6		20%	38	32	10	*
2000 Sep 11-13 ^		17%	42	28	12	1
^	WORDING: How much of the Olympics do you intend to watch -- a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or none at all?
*	Less than 0.5%

What is your favorite Winter Olympic event? [Open-end and code]

 

	2002 Feb 4-6
Figure skating	32%
Downhill skiing	23
Bobsled	8
Hockey	7
Luge	3
Ski jumping	3
Snowboarding	2
Speed skating	1
Biathlon	1
Other	6
All	1
None	10
No opinion	3

How worried are you that you or someone in your family will become a victim of terrorism -- very worried, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all?

BASED ON -- 506 -- NATIONAL ADULTS; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

		Very worried	Somewhat worried	Not too worried	Not worried at all	KNOW A VICTIM (vol.)	No opinion
		%	%	%	%	%	%
2002 Feb 4-6 ^		8	27	39	25	0	1
2001 Nov 26-27		8	27	34	30	1	*
2001 Nov 2-4		11	28	34	26	0	1
2001 Oct 19-21 †		13	30	33	23	*	1
2001 Oct 11-14 †		18	33	35	14	*	*
2001 Oct 5-6 †		24	35	27	14	*	*
2001 Sep 21-22 †		14	35	32	18	*	1
2001 Sep 14-15 †		18	33	35	13	*	1
2001 Sep 11 † ‡		23	35	24	16	1	1
2000 Apr 7-9 ^		4	20	41	34	--	1
1998 Aug 20 ‡ ♠		10	22	38	29	--	1
1996 Jul 20-21 ‡		13	26	34	27	--	*
1996 Apr 9-10 ♣		13	22	33	32	--	*
1995 Apr 21-23 ♣		14	28	33	24	--	1
^	Asked of a half sample.
†	WORDING: How worried are you that you or someone in your family will become a victim of a terrorist attack -- very worried, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all?
‡	Based on one-night poll of national adults with a margin of error of ±4 pct. pts.
♠	WORDING: How worried are you that someone in your family will become a victim of a terrorist attack similar to the bombing in Oklahoma City?
♣	WORDING: How worried are you that you or someone in your family will become a victim of a terrorist attack similar to the bombing in Oklahoma City?
(vol.)	Volunteered response
*	Less than 0.5%

How likely do you think it is that a terrorist attack of some sort will occur at the Winter Olympics taking place in Salt Lake City -- very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or very unlikely?

BASED ON -- 505 -- NATIONAL ADULTS; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

		Very likely	Somewhat likely	Somewhat unlikely	Very unlikely	No opinion
2002 Feb 4-6		11%	37	32	18	2
1996 Jul 20-21 ^		13%	38	28	18	3
^	WORDING: How likely do you think it is that a terrorist attack of some sort will occur at the Olympics currently taking place in Atlanta -- very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or very unlikely? Original poll scheduled Jul. 18-21. (N=508; ±5 PCT. PTS.)