political divides of sports team fans

[Thunderbird is the word]

Living in New York I tended to notice that the Mets tended to have a more politically liberal fanbase while more Yankees tended to be Republicans. Obviously there are limits to this as the Bronx isn't exactly a GOP stronghold but I wonder if there's any data to back this up beyond just the region that the team is from. I also think that more Yankees fans came from the suburbs while more Mets fans were actually from New York and while most demographic groups in NYC are 50/50 divided between both teams there are far more Italian-American Yankees fans, probably because of Joe DiMaggio.

[tpfkaw]

The Yankees/Giants/Knicks have more conservative fanbases by default, simply because they're larger, but of course the loyalties of NY fans are always "whoever's doing better" so it isn't really meaningful anyway.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Chicago White Sox fans are probably the most left-leaning in Illinois due to being so concentrated in the Chicago area. Cubs fans are probably Democratic as well while I would imagine Cardinals fans are overwhelmingly Republican.

Sox fans are disproportionately represented in the minority parts of Chicago while the Trader Joe's group tends to support the Cubs. But the Cubs also have a strong fanbase in rural Illinois due to the influence of WGN.

I would also guess, due to recent political trends, that Pittsburgh Steelers fans now lean GOP.

[bagelman]

I would also guess, due to recent political trends, that Pittsburgh Steelers fans now lean GOP.

Given how West Virginia roots for them, as well as Ohio's eastern border, this is true.

Within Ohio, Cincy sports fans are more conservative than CLE sports fans, because of the different mannerisms of the two fandoms.

[RI]

Dodgers fans tend to be more liberal than Angels fans. Padres fans strike me as more conservative than either, but I could be wrong; they're certainly more conservative than Dodgers fans though.

Stereotypically:
Dodgers fans = wealthy Hollywood types
Angels fans = socons and Hispanics
Padres fans = military types

[tpfkaw]

Dodgers fans tend to be more liberal than Angels fans. Padres fans strike me as more conservative than either, but I could be wrong; they're certainly more conservative than Dodgers fans though.

Stereotypically:
Dodgers fans = wealthy Hollywood types
Angels fans = socons and Hispanics
Padres fans = military types

What do you think about how the the Reagan administration's done so far?

[DS0816]

I just go by the market. Nearly all of them prefers the Democratic Party. It's attributed to the map…where Republicans and where Democrats carry.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Dodgers fans tend to be more liberal than Angels fans. Padres fans strike me as more conservative than either, but I could be wrong; they're certainly more conservative than Dodgers fans though.

Stereotypically:
Dodgers fans = wealthy Hollywood types
Angels fans = socons and Hispanics
Padres fans = military types

If I was from southern California, which team would I favor?

[bagelman]

Dodgers fans tend to be more liberal than Angels fans. Padres fans strike me as more conservative than either, but I could be wrong; they're certainly more conservative than Dodgers fans though.

Stereotypically:
Dodgers fans = wealthy Hollywood types
Angels fans = socons and Hispanics
Padres fans = military types

If I was from southern California, which team would I favor?

My guess is a backyard independent team that plays for the joy of the game rather than as a large business.

[Ebsy]

Cubs fans are probably Democratic as well while I would imagine Cardinals fans are overwhelmingly Republican.

Support of the Cardinals is pretty much universal, though since the region outside of St. Louis proper is overwhelmingly Republican, a majority of Cardinals fans are probably Republicans.

[nclib]

I would also guess, due to recent political trends, that Pittsburgh Steelers fans now lean GOP.

Given how West Virginia roots for them, as well as Ohio's eastern border, this is true.

Within Ohio, Cincy sports fans are more conservative than CLE sports fans, because of the different mannerisms of the two fandoms.

The Cincy area is more Repub than the Cleve area, but is there anything else at work here? Explain the last sentence.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Texas teams had Enron in Houston, homestate of Bushie family always conservative fans. RANGERS as well as Astros. Dubya had ownership of Rangers when they traded Sosa to White Sox.

But, with Bonds fans in San Francisco, Giants have liberal fans.

Mets, Giants, Baltimore Orioles, White Sox & Cleveland fans liberals

Rangers, Yankees, Cubs, Padres & Cincinnati fans conservatives

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I'd always heard that 49ers fans were the "jet set", and Raiders fans were average, working-class people.

[RINO Tom]

I'd always heard that 49ers fans were the "jet set", and Raiders fans were average, working-class people.

Considering that the 49ers have way more fans than the Raiders, and therefore a larger sample size of people, I'd say that's mostly a stereotype, probably based on where the two stadiums are located.

As for Illinois, I'd guess that both Cubs and Cardinals fans are more Republican than Sox fans.  The White Sox fan base is traditionally in a more minority-heavy area and almost exclusively confined to the Chicago area, whereas the Cubs are more popular in the Western and Northern suburbs, which tend to be Whiter and more affluent.  Considering also that there aren't many Sox fans Downstate (which I define as outside of the Chicagoland area), I'd say Cubs and Cardinals fans are definitely more Republican, with Cardinals fans being the most Republican because they are almost exclusively Downstate.

[Asian Nazi]

but of course the loyalties of NY fans are always "whoever's doing better" so it isn't really meaningful anyway.

This, essentially.  In the New York area, though, Mets fans tend to be older and whiter than Yankees fans on average.  So my guess is that they're slightly more Republican on average there.  But nationally, of course, there are far more Yankees fans, which probably skews the Yankee fandom as a whole more conservative, since New York/New Jersey, where the overwhelming majority of Mets fans are from, is much more liberal than the nation as a whole.

Sticking with baseball, the Chicago and Los Angeles teams show similar divides.  Cubs fans are whiter than White Sox fans, and Angels fans are whiter than Dodgers fans.  So my guess is that Cubs and Angels fans are slightly more Republican than White Sox and Dodgers fans.  This is also accentuated by the fact that the Cubs, like the Yankees, have a national fanbase. 

Baseball in this country as a whole has become an old white man's game, and is only getting whiter, both in terms of who is watching and who is playing.  The percentage of African American players has been on the decline for decades, to the point where MLB is panicking and trying to figure out how to win back black fans and players.  And just look at the ZIP codes of the high schools that the top American-born baseball players are from, and it's overwhelmingly very white, conservative, and disproportionately Southern areas.  The overwhelmingly white conservative Southern suburbs are where the best domestic talent is coming from these days, at the expense of pretty much everywhere else. 

[Mr. Illini]

The Cubs Republican/White Sox Democrat idea has been held so misguided that studies have actually been done to disprove it.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06-14/news/0906130253_1_sox-fans-cubs-wrigley-field

I don't really know where the idea comes from anyway now that we have moved out of the 1980s.

Minority south side wards are 90+% Democrat, yes, but white north side wards are 70+% Democrat. Meanwhile, southern and southwestern suburbs (with the exception of the closest ring, as is the case throughout the closest ring) are decidedly more conservative than their counterparts. North and northwest suburbs are mixed and lean left.

[Asian Nazi]

The Cubs Republican/White Sox Democrat idea has been held so misguided that studies have actually been done to disprove it.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06-14/news/0906130253_1_sox-fans-cubs-wrigley-field

I don't really know where the idea comes from anyway now that we have moved out of the 1980s.

Minority south side wards are 90+% Democrat, yes, but white north side wards are 70+% Democrat. Meanwhile, southern and southwestern suburbs (with the exception of the closest ring, as is the case throughout the closest ring) are decidedly more conservative than their counterparts. North and northwest suburbs are mixed and lean left.

The article doesn't seem to actually disprove the claim, just show that it's not quite as stark a divide as one might think.  And I don't think they bothered polling Cubs fans nationally, which would definitely skew the data more.  I don't think anyone is claiming that Cubs fans are overwhelmingly Republican or that White Sox fans are overwhelmingly Democrat, either, it's just that one group leans slightly more one way than the other, relatively speaking.

[Rockefeller GOP]

The Cubs Republican/White Sox Democrat idea has been held so misguided that studies have actually been done to disprove it.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06-14/news/0906130253_1_sox-fans-cubs-wrigley-field

I don't really know where the idea comes from anyway now that we have moved out of the 1980s.

Minority south side wards are 90+% Democrat, yes, but white north side wards are 70+% Democrat. Meanwhile, southern and southwestern suburbs (with the exception of the closest ring, as is the case throughout the closest ring) are decidedly more conservative than their counterparts. North and northwest suburbs are mixed and lean left.

That article you linked literally said that the Cubs fan base is more Republican, and that only included Chicago area residents ... Once you include the rest of the state, it's pretty clear the Cubs would have a less Democratic fan base.

[Mr. Illini]

@the last two posts

I'm not going to claim that the Sox are not a couple % more Democratic, but a narrow margin is hardly a fair stereotype.

Another article here on baseball demographics, this time from WaPo, describes the Cubs and Sox as both to the left of the rest of baseball, although the Sox more so. Also cites my earlier reasoning - it isn't the 1980s anymore. Republicans don't win anywhere on the North Side or Evanston or Skokie.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2014/04/towards_a_political_geography050108.php

Many decades ago, between the solid GOP areas north of the city (and even on the north side) and the rural areas across central Illinois and Iowa, it might have been fair to characterize the Cubs/Sox rivalry as a Republican/Democrat divide.

Now its marginal.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Fans of the NFL, MLB, NHL, College Basketball, and College Football (notably not the NBA) tend to be majority-conservative, even in more liberal areas.  There is something about sports that attracts conservatives (or, it could be in part the demographics that watch sports).

The most liberal fanbases would be regional teams in very blue areas- think the Seattle Mariners, for example (maybe the Seahawks as well until they recently got good and got a bandwagon following).  The NBA is already liberal (largely due to race demographics of the fans), so the Portland Trailblazers are probably the most liberal fanbase in the Big Four sports.  Most conservative options (excluding college sports) would probably be the teams in the DFW area (including the Cowboys, even though they are national in following), the Titans, Predators, STL Cardinals, Jaguars, and Braves.  The Saints and Falcons might just be too urban.  If it weren't for the NBA being much more liberal than the rest, I would be tempted to say the Thunder, likely the most conservative NBA fanbase.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Cubs fans are probably Democratic as well while I would imagine Cardinals fans are overwhelmingly Republican.

Support of the Cardinals is pretty much universal, though since the region outside of St. Louis proper is overwhelmingly Republican, a majority of Cardinals fans are probably Republicans.

Yeah, I mean if you look at where their fan base is, it's fairly evident:

St. Louis proper: D
St. Louis suburbs: ??
Downstate Illinois: R
Rural Missouri: R
Southeast Iowa: D but not by a whole lot, plus this is mostly Cub territory
Northern Arkansas: R
Western Tennessee: R
West central/southern Indiana: R

Cub fans are concentrated in Chicago and the northern half of Illinois, mostly Obama territory (though every county in the north except Cook joined all the southern counties in supporting Bruce Rauner). The Cubs do have a national following, but there are just so many fans in northern and central Illinois that the national group is small by comparison.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Fans of the NFL, MLB, NHL, College Basketball, and College Football (notably not the NBA) tend to be majority-conservative, even in more liberal areas.  There is something about sports that attracts conservatives (or, it could be in part the demographics that watch sports).

That's definitely far from the rule though to the extent that it's true perhaps liberals in terms of recreation are more likely to be attracted to artistic pursuits wheras there's always an element of traditionalism to sports fandom and conservatives are probably more likely to be attracted to that and to something that tends to be a more macho pursuit.

[Crumpets]

If you're including college football teams, I can say that the UW vs. WSU divide can definitely have some political overtones. Ask a diehard UW fan to describe a typical WSU supporter, and they'll give you a bunch of Republican/Tea Party stereotypes (country hick, uneducated, redneck). Ask as diehard WSU fan to describe a typical UW supporter, and you'll get a bunch of stereotypes of Democrats (elitist, snob, pothead, etc.)

[Asian Nazi]

If you're including college football teams, I can say that the UW vs. WSU divide can definitely have some political overtones. Ask a diehard UW fan to describe a typical WSU supporter, and they'll give you a bunch of Republican/Tea Party stereotypes (country hick, uneducated, redneck). Ask as diehard WSU fan to describe a typical UW supporter, and you'll get a bunch of stereotypes of Democrats (elitist, snob, pothead, etc.)

Well the stereotypes aren't exactly wrong, from what I've seen.

I'm pretty sure Oregon and Oregon State have a similar, but slightly less obvious divide too.

[Crumpets]

If you're including college football teams, I can say that the UW vs. WSU divide can definitely have some political overtones. Ask a diehard UW fan to describe a typical WSU supporter, and they'll give you a bunch of Republican/Tea Party stereotypes (country hick, uneducated, redneck). Ask as diehard WSU fan to describe a typical UW supporter, and you'll get a bunch of stereotypes of Democrats (elitist, snob, pothead, etc.)

Well the stereotypes aren't exactly wrong, from what I've seen.

I'm pretty sure Oregon and Oregon State have a similar, but slightly less obvious divide too.

I can't say I disagree.

Oregon has the interesting added factor of having the support of the anarchist subculture in Eugene. It's kind of like the Oakland Raiders of the Pac-12.