USA – Although the National Football League (NFL) remains the most popular sport in the United States, Major League Baseball (MLB) continues to have a strong following among American sports fans according to a Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive between December 9 and 15, 2008 among 2,388 U.S. adults, of whom 1,582 follow one or more sport.

The NFL tops the list with 31% of those who follow sports, followed by 16% who say MLB is their favorite. Rounding out the top five favorite sports are NCAA football (cited by 12%), NASCAR auto racing (8%) and the National Basktball Association (NBA) (6%).

Since Harris Interactive began asking this question in 1985, the NFL has always been on top and its popularity is now seven points higher than it was then (up from 24% to 31%). Compared to 1985’s results, MLB has dropped seven percentage points (from 23% to 16%), and men’s tennis has dropped four percentage points (from 5% to 1%).

The NFL isn’t the only sport to gain in popularity. NASCAR has increased its popularity by three percentage points (from 5% to 8%) as has hockey (up 3 percentage points from 2% to 5%).

The NFL is most popular among:

- those with household incomes of $50,000 to under $75,000 (43%)
- African Americans (42%)
- those aged 30-39 (39%)
- Easterners (34%)
- Those with a post-graduate degree education (20%)
- Westerners (23%)
- Those aged 65 and older (26%)

MLB is most popular among:

- Westerners (21%)
- Those aged 65 and older (21%)
- Hispanics (20%)
- Those aged 30-39 (8%)

Full data tables and methodology are available at: www.harrisinteractive.com.

Photo courtesy of USABaseball

Tags: Polls