A Gallup poll finds that the favorability rating for sports has crashed a whopping thirty points among Republicans and Independents, amid a surge in social justice activism.
Gallup released its latest polling result on Tuesday revealing a major warning sign to the sports industry.
Overall, the number of people who have a favorable view of the sports industry has plummeted from plus twenty last year to minus ten this year, a fall of 30 percentage points.
While it is probably not a surprise that the numbers fell the most among respondents who identified as Republicans, it also bottomed out among independents. Those who called themselves Republicans went from plus eleven last year to minus 35 in the latest survey. That is a massive drop of 46 points. However, independents also fell out of love with sports going from plus 26 last year to minus ten. That is a 36-point drop.
The large drop in favorability among independents is something that should make the sports industry sit up and take notice. It is easy for the woke industry to dismiss the drop among members of the GOP and chalk it up to supposedly expected “racism,” but if independents have lost all respect for the leagues that says something about how far overboard they have gone.
Gallup also found its results on sports alarming.
“Sports has been acutely affected by the twin events steering news and culture in 2020: the pandemic and the renewed movement for racial justice,” Gallup wrote in its summary. “The sports industry’s relationship with fans has been disrupted by the need to shrink its seasons and schedules and play to empty venues as a means of keeping fans and players safe. At the same time, the greater social and political activism of players and, in some cases now, coaching staffs and entire leagues appears to have turned off Americans who disagree with their messages or the way they express them. The net effect at this point has been negative for the industry’s image.”
People are already sick and tired of the in-your-face wokeness, and we have not even seen the debut of college football with the Big 12 warning fans that it intends to slam viewers with repeated “social justice” messages during its upcoming games.
Thursday evening will see the debut of the NFL’s 2020 season, as well, and all manner of protests and displays for Black Lives Matter is planned.
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