Gallup Poll Shows Public Support for Sports Has Plummeted Since BLM Protests
According to a new Gallup poll, more Americans have a negative view of pro sports than a positive one.
This makes a lot of sense, given how upset many fans have been at professional sports leagues’ embrace of left-wing politics in recent months.
Following the return of sports from the purgatory that was the coronavirus pandemic, ratings were expected to be higher than ever.
However, with their return, most sports leagues brought with them pandering to the radical Black Lives Matter movement. This has been a big turnoff to large numbers of fans, as the polling data from Gallup shows.
In 2019, 45 percent of Americans viewed the sports industry positively as opposed to 25 percent who viewed it negatively, according to Gallup.
In 2020, those numbers have nearly flipped, with 40 percent of Americans now viewing the sports industry negatively and only 30 percent viewing it positively.
Gallup said it surveyed a random sample of 1,031 adults living in the United States via telephone from July 30 to Aug. 12. There were roughly 550 respondents, and the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
The dramatic shift in support for the sports industry has been reflected in television ratings.
Viewership for the NFL season opener between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday finished slightly above the league’s nine-year-low.
Fans and critics cited the politicization of the game as a major reason the ratings fell so sharply.
Social justice messages were written in each end zone, seemingly embracing the left-wing narrative of systemic racism being prevalent in America with phrases such as “End Racism” and “It Takes All of Us.”
The NFL added ”End Racism” and ”It takes all of us” to the endzones for week 1 (? @brgridiron) pic.twitter.com/ds49rP7aPW
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) September 10, 2020
Texan players refused to take the field for the national anthem and at least one player from the Chiefs knelt for the anthem. Both teams participated in a “moment of silence” supposedly for equality and unity that was booed by fans.
Meanwhile, early Neilsen data indicated viewership for the Sunday prime-time game between the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams was down 23 percent from a year ago.
The NBA and MLB garnered similarly lackluster ratings after promoting their own political demonstrations.
The NBA has been particularly politicized, with Black Lives Matter written on the court and nearly every player in the league kneeling for the anthem before games.
NBA’s court will have “Black Lives Matter” on side close to scorer’s table. NBA logo is at center court pic.twitter.com/nySGyhfbnT
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 21, 2020
Many fans have had enough of the politics; they just want to enjoy their sports without having to be confronted about the Black Lives Matter movement or the upcoming November elections.
Unfortunately, the left can’t help but sink its hands into every aspect of American life.
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