There is no keeping sports and politics separate. The Republicans in America know this better than anyone. Trying to figure out the best sports to target for political advertising, National Media Inc recently commissioned Scarborough USA to poll sports fans along the lines of the favorite sport to watch and their voting preference. The results tell us things we already knew – such as sports fans mostly have a right-wing worldview - though it’s nice to have it all on paper.
It’s obvious, for instance, that golf fans skew heavily to the right. Modern golf is little more than fascist fantasy of the white man’s outright mastery of nature with the most limited of weapons. I was surprised that pro wrestling fans are mostly Democrats, though it’s no shock that they don’t turn up on Election Day. I suppose it’s promising for American soccer that MLS fans are largely left of centre. It's also of note that LPGA fans veer to the conservative side while WNBA fans are the most left-wing sports clique in America.
How might an Irish version look? Probably not very illuminating. The entire Irish sporting sphere must share some responsibility for Fianna Fail's uninterrupted reign.
Here are some of the findings in detail:
GOP Dem R-D Voter Turnout % Very Sport/League Index Index Index Index Interested PGA Tour 135 88 +47 135 9% College football 136 91 +45 125 23 NASCAR 125 82 +43 108 10 Pro bull riding 115 78 +37 109 3 NHL 120 92 +28 118 5 LPGA Tour 117 93 +24 132 2 NHRA/Drag racing 106 82 +24 97 3 High sch. sports 118 104 +14 130 9 Olympics 117 103 +14 123 28 Motocross 95 81 +14 78 -- Col. baskeltball 118 105 +13 127 14 NFL 111 103 +8 111 29 MLB 110 105 +5 121 17 Minor league base. 104 105 -1 127 2 Extreme sports 86 94 -8 75 -- Grand-Am racing 83 94 -11 98 -- Monster trucks 79 91 -12 78 -- Men's tennis 93 117 -24 119 4 Pro soccer (MLS) 75 116 -41 85 2 Women's tennis 77 131 -54 116 3 WWE (Wrestling) 55 114 -59 66 2 NBA 75 136 -61 102 9 WNBA 57 153 -96 111 2
Sorted by percentage of "very interested" voters:
