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.