Soccer & Polling

Here are all the American polls involving soccer that I've found online, in chronological order. Please post links to others if you have them. Thank you. I look forward to seeing more upon Beckham's arrival. Harris Interactive, November(?) 1993. "According to the the Harris poll, only 13% of the US residents know that WC94 will be held here. About 50-60% do not care enough to watch even one game. Roughly the same percentage would not attend a game. " Reported in LA Times, February 28, 1994. N=??. MoE ± ?? - Only 20% of Americans realize that World Cup will be played in USA. - Only 25% of Americans know that the events involve soccer - Only 8% are aware that it will be played in 1994. - 53% of Americans said they're not interested in watching WC in TV - and 62% said they have no interest in attending one of the games. USA Today/CNN Gallup. June 3-6, 1994. N=1,000. MoE ± ?? 1. Will you be watching the World Cup on TV ? 61% said they will not watch any at all 27% said they will watch some, but not a lot 11% said they will watch as much as possible 2. What is your interest in soccer ? 50% said they were not at all interested 20% said they were not too interested 20% said they were somewhat interested 9% said they were very interested 3. Where is the World Cup being held ? 66% said they didn't know 31% said in the U.S. 2% said the wrong country (other than the U.S.) (Answers 1 & 2 included with other years later in this post.) Roper, June 1994. "Of the 1,034 Americans surveyed, nearly 90% were familiar with the tournament and 84% were aware it's being held in the United States. Almost 44% said they will watch World Cup matches on television and 80% could correctly name a World Cup sponsor. " Harris Interactive. June 17-22, 1998. N=1,000 adults. MoE ± ?? "...only 52 percent of Americans knew that the world cup was a soccer tournament. Only 19 percent said they had watched a game on television and only 25 percent knew that it was being played in France." "while 74 ...percent of Americans said they had heard about the World Cup only 52 percent knew it was a soccer competition. "Only 19 percent said they had watched a game on television and almost half of these people said they did not enjoy it, the poll said." "The poll also found men had more soccer knowledge than women..." FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. July 14-15, 1999. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3. . "Which do you think is more exciting to watch: men's soccer or women's soccer?" ALL Men Women % % % Women's 40 42 39 Men's 14 16 12 Both equal (vol.) 13 12 14 No soccer is interesting (vol.) 27 24 29 Not sure 6 5 6 Gallup. March 30-April 2, 2000. N=998 adults. MoE ± 3 What is your favorite sport to watch? 2000 Mar 1998 Nov 1997 Apr 1995 Apr 1994 Sep 1994 Aug Football 33% 36% 30% 32% 37% 35% Basketball 16 12 17 15 13 11 Baseball 13 16 14 16 16 21 Ice hockey 5 3 3 3 1 3 Golf 5 3 5 4 3 3 Auto Racing 5 3 7 2 2 2 Ice/ Figure Skating 4 2 2 2 3 3 Soccer 2 2 2 1 2 2 Boxing 2 1 2 1 1 1 Tennis 1 2 2 2 3 2 Wrestling 1 1 1 1 * 1 Gymnastics 1 1 1 0 0 * Bowling * 1 * 1 * * Fishing * 1 * 1 * * Swimming * -- -- -- -- -- Horse Racing -- * 1 0 0 * OTHER 3 6 6 7 5 5 NONE 8 9 6 10 12 10 No opinion 1 1 1 2 2 1 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. May 28-29, 2002. N=1,003 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3. . "Finally, thinking about sports: How interested are you in soccer? Are you very interested, somewhat interested, not too interested, or not at all interested?" Very Somewhat Not Too Not At All No Opinion % % % % % 5/02 9 17 21 53 - 6/94 9 20 20 50 1 4/90 4 19 17 49 11 . "As you may know, the World Cup soccer tournament -- which is played every four years -- begins this week. How much of the World Cup matches do you plan to watch on television: as much as possible, some but not a lot, or none at all?" As Much As Possible Some None At All No Opinion % % % % 5/02 5 22 72 1 6/94 11 27 61 1 4/90 5 21 62 12 CNN/Time Poll conducted by Harris Interactive. June 19-20, 2002. N=1,003 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1. . "Are you following the World Cup of Soccer or aren't you following the World Cup?" % Following 26 Not following 72 Not sure 2 The Gallup Poll. Aug. 9-11, 2004. N=499 adults nationwide. MoE ± 5. . "What is your favorite Summer Olympic event?" % Track and field (net) 21 Swimming 21 Gymnastics 17 Diving 4 Basketball 3 Soccer 2 Other 9 Any/All 2 None 13 No opinion 8 GMI, 2006. Poll of soccer fans only. Which of the following countries is hosting the 2006 soccer tournament? Don't Know 56% Germany 26% (other choices) 18% Link to graph. "...only 11% of 1,000 respondents in the U.S. said they were ‘definitely’ going to watch the World Cup. An additional 23% said they were only ‘somewhat likely’ to do so." "...American soccer fans selected Europe (39%) and South America (34%) over North America (6%) as regions that excel at soccer." "Of the Americans who are definitely going to follow the World Cup, 78% said they would view it on TV while 40% will track team progress over the Internet." Rasmussen Reports. June 19-20, 2006. N=1,000 adults. MoE ± 3 How closely have you watched the World Cup Tournament? Very Closely 6% Somewhat Closely 15% Not Very Closely 31% Not At All 47% "Nine percent (9%) of men are paying close attention along with 3% of women." "The Super Bowl remains the biggest sport championship in terms of fan appeal. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans say it’s their favorite championship to watch. The World Series is the only other championship to reach double digits—12% of adults say it’s their favorite." "One-fourth of all Americans (25%) say they don’t want any sports championships." "Fourteen percent (14%) of Americans say they played soccer in an organized league at some point in their life." "Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans believe there is a professional soccer league in the United States (and they’re right)." "...just 5% of the nation’s adults thought it was very likely the U.S. team would win the tournament." Harris Interactive. December 12-18, 2006. N=2,309 adults (1,219 who follow more than one sport), weighted to represent the national population. MoE ± ?? If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your favorite? Base: All adults who follow more than one sport CHANGE 1985 1989 1992 1993 1994 1997 1998 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1985- 2006 % % % % % % % % % % % % % Pro football 24 26 28 24 24 28 26 27 29 30 33 29 +5 Baseball 23 19 21 18 17 17 18 14 13 15 14 14 -9 College football 10 6 7 8 7 10 9 9 9 11 13 13 +3 Auto racing 5 4 5 6 5 5 7 10 9 7 11 9 +3 Men's pro basketball 6 7 8 12 11 13 13 11 10 7 4 7 +1 Men's college basketball 6 10 8 8 8 6 4 4 6 6 5 5 -1 Men's golf 3 4 4 6 5 6 4 4 5 4 4 4 +1 Hockey 2 3 3 3 5 4 3 3 3 4 5 4 +2 Men's soccer 3 2 2 1 3 3 4 3 3 3 2 2 -1 Men's tennis 5 4 4 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 1 2 -3 Track & field 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 * 2 - Horse racing 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 -3 Boxing NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 2 2 1 NA Women's tennis NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 3 2 2 1 1 NA Bowling 3 5 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 -2 Women's golf NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 * * 1 NA Women's college basketball NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 1 * 1 * 1 NA Women's pro basketball NA NA NA NA NA NA * 1 1 * * * NA Women's soccer NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 * * NA Not sure * 1 4 1 2 2 1 3 1 2 2 3 - From the same annual survey, posted on Soccertimes in 1998: "Soccer is followed by 17 percent of the nation's adults, compared with 10 percent in 1985 and 13 prcent in 1997". Links (not in order) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12