Despite its ties to former President Donald Trump, LIV Golf, as it turns out, is a liberal bastion for U.S. sports fans—relatively speaking.
That’s one takeaway from a new survey by The Harris Poll and Sportico, connecting Americans’ political and fandom leanings. The survey, conducted earlier this month, found that the controversial Saudi-backed golf tour was one of just two major professional sports leagues and governing bodies whose “close followers” in America lean left, with 51% of its fans identifying as liberal. (The other is pro tennis, with 52%.)
Aficionados of the PGA Tour, by contrast, were among the most rightward fanbases, with 56% self-identifying as “more conservative,” compared with 44% who were “more liberal.” The most partisan fanbase, the survey found, belongs to college football, with 58% of that group identifying as more conservative. The most bipartisan following? The WNBA’s, which was a perfect 50-50 split.
In coordination with Sportico, Harris Poll surveyed a nationally representative sample of 4,116 U.S. adults age 18 and over. Respondents in general reflected that the country is slightly more conservative (55%) in its self-identification.
Beyond gauging fans’ personal political affiliations, the poll also asked Americans how they perceive the political leanings of those same leagues. In several instances, there were stark differences between how liberal or conservative Americans think certain sports are, and the reality of their fanbases. For example, 63% of Americans said they thought women’s college basketball was “more liberal,” despite the survey finding 55% of fans to be “more conservative.” In the other direction, 59% of Americans perceived LIV Golf as “more conservative,” despite its followers’ progressive lean.
LIV Golf’s legal battle, followed by its head-snapping reconciliation with the PGA this summer, has been one of the biggest sports stories of the year. Along the way, the upstart professional golf tour, financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, had been primarily cudgeled by Democratic politicians, who castigated the venture for “sportswashing” Saudi Arabia’s assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other civil rights abuses. These complaints were amplified by the fact that Trump’s golf properties have hosted a handful of LIV events.
However, the politics of LIV got turned upside down when it struck a surprise agreement this summer to partner with the PGA Tour, ending a withering courtroom fight.
MMA giant UFC ranks among the more conservative fanbases—55% of its fans identify as “more conservative” while 45% are “more liberal.” The 55-45 split is exactly in line with where the nation is in general, according to the poll. That its fanbase is not more conservative might come as a surprise to those who have attended recent events, where Trump has been a frequent front-row guest of UFC president Dana White. Trump emerged to loud cheers during UFC 295 in New York City last month, and got an even warmer reception last week at UFC 296 in Las Vegas, where fans chanted “F--k Joe Biden” during a break in the action.
Recently, Bud Light signed the largest sponsorship in UFC history to become the MMA company’s official beer partner. The Anheuser-Busch brand is looking to improve its standing in conservative circles after it drew criticism and calls for a boycott earlier this year because of its marketing relationship with transgender activist and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney. (Trump appeared at both those UFC events alongside rapper Kid Rock, who in April posted a profanity-laced video on social media of him shooting a case of Bud Light with a semi-automatic rifle.)
More broadly, sports seem to be a critical part of Bud Light’s attempt to win back red-state America. The brand expanded its presence this year in college football—which has the most conservative fanbase, according to the poll—to include sponsorship of more than 50 teams and a nationwide tour with stops at 13 campuses. Bud Light/Budweiser is also a major partner of the NFL and MLB, two other leagues with more conservative fanbases, according to the polling. College men’s basketball fans lean slightly conservative (53%), but less so than women’s basketball fans.
Perhaps no U.S. league has been used as a political football more than the NFL. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump called on fans to boycott the the league until it punished players who knelt during the national anthem as a protest against racial inequality and police brutality. The condemnation continued during his presidency, all while the league drew anger from the American left, which accused the NFL of trying to silence its players.
The NFL’s fanbase skews “more conservative” (56%), according to our poll, despite 51% of Americans saying they perceive the league as “more liberal.” Commissioner Roger Goodell, the son of a former Republican U.S. senator, has worked to strike a middle ground for the league by abstaining from political issues that might alienate other players, fans, media members or sponsors.
“The current dispute over the national anthem is threatening to erode the unifying power of our game, and is now dividing us, and our players, from many fans across the country,” Goodell wrote in a memo to owners back in October of 2017. “We need to move past this controversy.”
Lev Akabas contributed to this story.