- Bearing Drift - https://bearingdrift.com -

Monmouth University Poll: Super Bowl 2019 Interest Dips

It’s Super Bowl weekend and America’s thoughts turn to football as the NFC’s Los Angeles Rams and AFC’s New England Patriots battle it out Sunday night for the Vince Lombardi trophy. Both coasts are represented but not many appear TV viewers are interested. Still, loyal football enthusiasts will travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, for the game.

Monmouth University Polls [1] found that 29 percent of Americans will be rooting for the Rams while only 18 percent want the Patriots to win. In fact, 52 percent don’t care one way or the other.

Regionally, residents of the Northeast are more likely to back the Pats (32%) over the Rams (23%). On the West Coast, the Rams (34%) are preferred over the Patriots (13%). Game favorites in other regions look similar to the West (31% Rams–13% Patriots in the Midwest, 30%–17% in the Southeast, and 30%–14% in the Southwest/Mountain region).

“This year’s match-up doesn’t seem to have produced quite the same spark as 2018, which featured a clear underdog,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The Super Bowl may be the nation’s premier sporting event, but just 16% say they have a lot of interest in this year’s game, which is down from 21% in 2018. Another 34% have a little interest and half (50%) express no interest at all.  Just over one-third (35%) of Americans say they will not have the game on TV, which is up slightly from 31% last year. Another 28% say the game will be on but they will only pay a little attention to it, while 37% say they will be actively watching the game.  Men (44%) are more likely than women (29%) to say they will be watching the game.

For those whose team didn’t make the Super Bowl, there’s more to make them tune in:  TV commercials and game day food.

For many Americans, the action on the field is not the most appealing part of the game. Most say that the ubiquitous TV commercials will be the most interesting part of this year’s Super Bowl (53%, up from 49% last year). Just under one-third say the game itself will be more interesting than the ads (32%, down from 36% last year).  Women are more likely to be drawn in by the ads (63%, up from 54% last year) than the game (21%, down from 29%).  Men are divided between saying the game (45%, similar to 44% last year) or the commercials (43%, similar to 43% last year) will hold more interest for them.

For game day food, here’s a CBS Sports poll [2] ranking the Top 15 party snacks. See where your favorites rank. Random tidbit: we’re enjoying the favorite on a wintry western Virginia Tuesday.

Entertainment:

National Anthem: Gladys Knight

Halftime show: Maroon 5

Enjoy the Super Bowl LIII (that’s 53 in Roman numerals). Kick-off is 6:30 p.m. for those of us on the East Coast.