Commentary

Viewers Take Political Sides On Brands

Wondering why the NFL might be losing some viewership? Maybe it’s just party politics.

In a study of the “polarizing” sport brands, Morning Consult says there is a 11 net-negative favorability rating among Republicans for the NFL, with a positive 39 favorability rating among Democrats.

One might jump to a reason for negative reaction to the NFL, especially recently -- NFL players' pre-game kneeling protest during the national anthem for all to see on TV.

Morning Consult’s research comes from a three-month online survey of 336,370 respondents from October 2017 to January 2018.

Other than that, both Republicans and Democrats are generally positive for all other sports. For Major League Baseball, Republicans had a positive 53 rating; Democrats gave it 49 in the thumbs-up arena. Both are the highest numbers for an individual sport.

Then there are sports with differing political leanings: For Nascar, Republicans posted a 38 positive number; Democrats only gave it an 18. For the NBA, Democrats registered a 42; Republicans only 15.

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Looking at the bigger picture, Morning Consult tallied the 30 most “polarizing” U.S. brands overall. The winner: Trump Hotels, with Democrat-minded consumers giving it a negative favorability number of 45. Republicans’ score on Trump Hotels was exactly the opposite -- a positive 45.

There are some surprises here, too. For the Fox News Channel, Democrats gave the channel a zero net favorability -- not negative, not positive. Republicans gave the conservative-minded news outlet a 54 positive score.

By way of comparison -- when it comes to CNN, which tends to lean in the opposite direction from Fox News -- Republicans offered up a 11 to 12 negative number, with Democrats at around a 51 positive score. MSNBC had only a slight negative score among Republicans, with around a 1 to 3 number, while Democrats gave the channel a 47 positive score.

Overall, Republicans did not give the highest positive results for any TV network when it comes to brands listed in the Morning Consult research. the Highest positive results went to retailers and restaurants. Chick-fil-A, Bass Pro Shops, Papa John’s and Cabela’s were at the top of the list.

Democrats gave their most positive brand favorability to CBS, ABC News, CBS News, Time, NBC News and HBO. Among top non-media brands Democrats liked was Starbucks.

What can we conclude from these findings, when looking at a broader public? Starbucks needs to sell some deep-dish pizza, Bass Pro Shops should put up a latte stand next to the goose decoys, and CBS should sell some chicken sandwiches to go. 

2 comments about "Viewers Take Political Sides On Brands".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, January 29, 2018 at 10:54 a.m.

    Any time you are interested in the political leanings of adults relative to their use of media or producht all you have to do is consult Simmons or MRI which have such data for just abou every nationally-aired TV show, radio station formats, hundrends of magazine and probably thousands of marketing brands.

  2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, January 29, 2018 at 8:44 p.m.

    This is not helping.

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