Super Bowl XLIX – Sports Enthusiasts Love the Patriots

Note: This article was originally published on the CivicScience blog on January 30, 2015. 

Yeah, yeah… of course we’ve done some polls asking people what they think about “Deflate-gate,” but this blog post instead looks at this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIX differently: asking which team people think will win and which team they want  to win.

Asking over 3,100 U.S. adults, the large majority – 69% — say they believe the Seattle Seahawks will win the title over the New England Patriots this year. Although age was not a differentiating factor in the responses, men are slightly more likely to say the Patriots, as are those who are single and have never been married. Those who say they follow the NFL closely are slightly more likely to say the Seahawks will win.

Now, when it comes to who people want to win, 33% of the over 7,300 polled say the Seahawks, 15% say the Patriots, 30% don’t care either way, and 20% wish there was a way for them both to lose. Women are split between the Seahawks and not caring.

Here’s where the Patriots fans stand apart: Those who say they believe the Patriots will win are also significantly more likely to also want the Patriots to win. In fact, this group’s desire for that team to win is over 225% more than that of the general population. Wow. By comparison, those who think the Seahawks will win are much less rabid – they are only 34% more likely than the gen pop to want the Seahawks to win.

Let’s see where these Patriots devotees score higher the general population… the bottom line is they are major sports fans:

• Tom Brady’s good looks are not winning favor among the women; it’s actually the men who index 16% higher than general population numbers when it comes to wanting the Patriots to win. (Although most men do hope the Seahawks will win.)
• Patriots fans are 31% more likely to fall in the 18-24 age group, and they are 12% more likely to live in an urban area.
• They are much more likely to watch over 10 hours of sports programming on TV each week.
• They are twice as likely to say sports is a passion of theirs, and 60% more likely to say this compared to those who will be cheering for the Seahawks.
• They are 50% more likely to have spent over $250 on sports-related purchases in the past 12 months, on anything from merch to tickets.
• They are slightly more likely to also follow college football and the National Hockey League.
• They are 60% more likely to say they save over 20% of their salary each month.
• Predictably, they are 138% more likely to believe that Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick had no knowledge of deflated footballs in the AFC championship game.

There you have it. While the Seahawks may capture the favor of the general population, Patriots fans may be the true sports connoisseurs. We recommend you serve their game-watching food on officially licensed NFL plates.