Stillman School of Business

Sports Poll on Baseball, Politics and Cheating Featured in Media Across the Globe  

Seton Hall Sports PollThe most recent Seton Hall Sports Poll gauged the pulse of the nation on a number of issues, including how people felt about the Houston Astros, who were found to have used electronic devices to steal pitching signs in a year in which they won the World Series. The Poll's findings were featured in traditional and social media across the globe, including from media outlets such as Yahoo, ESPN, NJ.com, The Detroit News, Toronto Star, The Dallas Morning News, Catholic News Agency, which syndicated the feature story to Catholic news and diocesan outlets throughout the world, including Catholic World Report and from Darren Rovell, who twice tweeted poll results to his 2 million followers.

A majority of people polled said that the Astros should be stripped of their championship title for the transgression. Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports covered the story, with articles appearing in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia, India and the Philippines among countries.

The Dallas Morning News also covered the story, juxtaposing the findings regarding the Astros punishment for electronic sign stealing with the questions that dealt with how people felt about sports teams garnering an advantage over their opponents by breaking rules, and how people felt about politicians breaking laws to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents.

The Dallas Morning News noted that those surveyed

…came down hard on cheaters in general, with well over 80% saying teams that break the rules to gain an unfair advantage over an opponent "really hurts the game."

"We very rarely get that kind of support in the 80s," said Rick Gentile, director of the poll, which is run out of Seton Hall University. "I found it comforting that there was overall negativity about cheating."

And that,

The poll also drew parallels to the recently concluded impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, who was acquitted of charges that he abused his power and then engaged in a cover-up to improve his 2020 reelection prospects. Over 80% of those polled said politicians breaking laws to gain an advantage over a political opponent "really hurts the country."

"There was cheating and baseball, and there was punishment for it," Gentile said. "It's been alleged that there's been cheating in politics and kind of nothing happened, so that's why we wanted to ask that question."

The poll wasn't accusing Trump of breaking the law, Gentile said, just comparing the public's sentiments toward cheating in sports and politics with the backdrops of Trump's impeachment trial and the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

The article, which was syndicated through the Associated Press and ran in media outlets throughout the United States, further noted

When discussing baseball, Democrats and Republicans surveyed were pretty much on the same page, with 90% of people who identified themselves as Democrats and 86% of people who identified themselves as Republicans answering that cheating in sports hurts the game.
On politics, however, the two ideologies began to split.
Nearly 90% of Democrats said politicians breaking the law hurts the country, while 68% of Republicans said the same. Only 8% of Democrats said it was "no big deal," compared to 23% of Republicans who said the same.

You can read the full release, "Strip Houston Astros of 2017 Title Say Americans by Wide Margin: 84% Say 'Really Hurts Game' when Team Breaks Rules; 83% Say 'Really Hurts Country' when Politicians Do." 

A Sampling of Media Highlights

Yahoo Finance, "Majority of Americans say MLB should strip Houston Astros of 2017 World Series title: poll

Yahoo News, India 

Yahoo News, U.K. 

Yahoo News, Australia 

Catholic News Agency, "Seton Hall poll says toss Astros' title"

Catholic World Report

NJ.com, "Which allegation bothers Americans more, Houston Astros cheating or Trump breaking the law?"

The Detroit News 

Fort Worth Star Telegram

ESPN, Twitter

Darren Rovell, Twitter 

The Dallas Morning News, "Houston Astros should be stripped of 2017 World Series title, nationwide poll says

Toronto Star 

Richmond Times Dispatch 

Finger Lakes Times 

Bozeman Daily Chronicle 

Bakersfield.com 

Hamilton Spectator 

Porterville Recorder 

SpotOnNebraska 

Kileen Daily Herald 

Niagra Falls Review 

Omaha.com 

Herald Courier 

The Jago Times 

Categories: Athletics, Business

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