Major League Baseball and major corporations across the country are having trouble reading the room, according to the findings of a new national poll commissioned by The Daily Wire which shows “woke politics” could hurt the league’s bottom-line and that of pandering corporations.
For years, many in the media have argued that the increasing politicization of sports isn’t impacting viewership. Those who have expressed their distaste for teams and players getting involved in politics have been laughed out of the room, told their viewership will not be missed. They are looked at as being in the very small minority. A mere blip on the screen.
The results of The Daily Wire’s poll show this line of thinking to be a swing and a miss.
With Major League Baseball’s decision to move their annual All-Star Game away from Atlanta due to “voter suppression,” The Daily Wire wanted to gauge the pulse of the nation as it relates to the infusion of politics into sports and hired SurveyMonkey to interview 1,026 Americans over 18 in a representative sample that is 31% Republican, 34% Democrat and 35% Independent. To be clear, this is a random sample of Americans, not of Daily Wire members.
The findings are fascinating.
According to the poll results, MLB’s political activism is alienating fans. 64% of Americans — including a majority of MLB fans, Delta Air Line customers, and Coca-Cola consumers — told the researchers they are less likely to support companies and organizations that insert themselves into political issues and debates.
70% of all respondents agree with the statement: “Corporations and sports teams should generally stay out of politics.”
Another interesting finding of the poll is that, despite an avalanche of negative media coverage, key provisions of Georgia’s new election law are actually popular. 78% of respondents, including a majority of Democrats, MLB fans, non-white Americans, and all age groups, support the law’s ID requirement for absentee voting. 63% of respondents, including a majority of non-whites, and 48% of Democrats, support Georgia’s law restrictions on the handing out of gifts, including refreshments, to voters near polling stations and voting lines. Meanwhile, 67% of respondents, including a majority of Democrats and non-whites, support Georgia’s new policies regulating ballot drop boxes.
The study also finds that support for the Georgia law grew significantly after Americans learned about its major provisions. Initially, 42% of Americans said they were supportive of the law and 38% opposed it. After learning about the legislation, 71% said they were “more supportive” of the Georgia law.
While 55% of Americans polled were initially supportive of MLB’s decision to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, over half (54%) said they became “less supportive” of the league’s action after learning what the new Georgia election law contains.
The poll reveals the impact that misinformation from liberal media personalities and Democratic politicians can have on the perceptions of Americans. Based on what President Joe Biden and his media cronies preach, one would think the law specifically targets the Black community and the “disenfranchised.” President Biden has gone so far as to call the law “Jim Crow on steroids.” But as The Daily Wire study shows, minorities are strongly supportive of much of the law.
As Patrick Ruffini, a pollster with Echelon Insights, explained to the Daily Wire, “Corporations are quickly learning that the new Georgia law is not the second coming of Jim Crow as it was sold by Stacey Abrams. In more than one poll, a plurality of Americans support the law-and over two thirds are on board with its key provisions including on voter ID and its changes to absentee and early voting. These results show that the Georgia law is in line with a broad bipartisan consensus among Americans that it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat.”
Isn’t this what we all want? Do any of us want to go through the weeks of lawsuits and debates we were subjected to just a few months ago?
The results of the poll are quite clear. Americans do not want their sports politicized. We tune in to sports to get away from the vitriol that comes with politics. Americans are growing increasingly frustrated with major corporations inserting themselves into the political debate and conversation.
Will Major League Baseball and other major corporations realize this before it’s too late? The NBA sure did. During the NBA restart in Orlando, NBA courts were plastered with “Black Lives Matter” slogans and social justice messaging was seen on the back of jerseys. But this hasn’t continued into the 2020-2021 season.
“My sense is there will be some return to normalcy,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN in October. “That those messages will largely be left to be delivered off the floor. And I understand those people who are saying ‘I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game,’” Silver said.
As it’s becoming increasingly obvious that over half the country is turned off by sports becoming woke, leagues will have a decision to make.
Do they continue to feed into the lies the Left rams down our throats? Or will they take a step back, look at the facts and make an informed decision?
It’s time to read the room.
