Recent Poll Results
Seton Hall Sports Poll Finds Overwhelming Interest
Among Sports Fans in 2008 Presidential Contest
S. Orange, NJ, September 16, 2008 - Is the presidential election just another fall
sporting event to sports fans?
In any case, it sure beats the NFL, baseball's post-season, and even the new fall
TV lineup. In answer to the question, “which interests you the most”, 75% said it
was the presidential election to only 12% for the NFL's new season, 6% for the new
Fall TV season and 5% for baseball's post-season and World Series. This comes from
a Seton Hall Sports Poll of 699 randomly called respondents of whom two-thirds watched
some or a lot of the Olympics,
The poll, conducted nationally, found that while 69% of all respondents watched “some”
or “a lot” of Olympic coverage, the recently concluded political conventions held
their own against that ratings-buster. 58% watched some or a lot of the Democratic
Convention, and 54% watched some or a lot of the Republican Convention.
Meanwhile, if the Chinese wanted to improve the impression of their country to Americans,
they scored well in that effort. 26% of our respondents said that their impression
of China has improved as a result of the Olympic games, while only 11% said it had
gotten worse. “If this was one of their goals in bidding for the games, 26% would
mark a strong success for them.” noted Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall Sports
Poll, conducted by The Sharkey Institute.
In other findings:
The Olympics promotes excellence as well as competition. Viewers saw it more as competition:
with 55% choosing to “root for the US to win the most medals possible” and 43% for
“the greatest athletic achievements by athletes no matter what country they're from.
“
63% of those surveyed thought that television coverage on the NBC stations did a “good
job” of covering foreign athletes vs. 31% feeling there was too much US emphasis.
The poll was conducted by telephone among a random digit dial sample of 699 adults
ages 18 and older living in the continental United States. The poll was weighted to
reflect the national distribution age, race and gender. The margin of error due to
sampling is +/- 3.6% percentage points for the full sample and 4.3% for sports fans.
Other factors also may affect the total error.