March 2024: Sports
Avs, Broncos lead the way in fan interest among likely CO voters
Despite relationship with TE from rival Kansas City Chiefs, Coloradans have little ‘Bad Blood’ for superstar Taylor Swift
DENVER — Colorado voters may be divided on many of the day’s top political and policy issues, but they are largely united in their support for the state’s professional sports teams and stars, according to results from a Colorado Polling Institute statewide survey released this week.
You can see the full questionnaire and results here and the full cross-tabs here.
The Denver Broncos lead the way with the largest group (26%) of “committed fans,” but majorities of Coloradans describe themselves as at least a casual fan of the state’s four major professional sports teams:
64% are Colorado Avalanche fans (20% “committed fans”);
63% are Broncos fans (26% are “committed fans”);
59% are Colorado Rockies fans (but just 12% are “committed fans”);
and 57% are Denver Nuggets fans (19% are “committed fans”).
The college sports teams hold predictably smaller fan bases with the University of Colorado Buffaloes (42% are fans, while 9% are “committed fans”) edging out the Colorado State Rams (34% fans, and 6% committed fans).
The statewide survey of 632 likely 2024 voters was conducted March 15-19 via a mix of online panel and text-to-web responses. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.
“The Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies take the prize for best bridging the partisan gap with Biden voters and Trump voters almost equally likely to describe themselves as fans of each team,” said Democratic pollster Kevin Ingham of Aspect Strategic. “Only the very newest Coloradans are less apt to describe themselves as fans of each team – residents who have been here between five and 20 years are roughly as likely to consider themselves fans of the Broncos and Rockies as Colorado natives and those who have lived here more than 20 years.”
There is little “Bad Blood” in Colorado for music superstar Taylor Swift, who was routinely spotted cheering on boyfriend Travis Kelce of the rival Kansas City Chiefs this past NFL season. Nearly half (47%) of Colorado voters have a positive view of her, while one-in-four (26%) holds an unfavorable impression.
“It is not surprising that there’s more of a ‘Love Story’ between female Coloradans and the pop star than among men,” said Republican pollster Lori Weigel of New Bridge Strategy, “but there is a decided partisan dynamic. Republicans are more divided in their views of Taylor Swift (33% favorable, while 37% are unfavorable), while Democrats hold an overwhelmingly positive impression of her. (63% favorable and just 17% unfavorable).”
Coloradans are also united in their positive regard for two-time league MVP and last year’s NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić (51% hold a favorable opinion of him, while a mere 1% have an unfavorable impression). The “Joker” is better known than all-time World Cup alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin (53% have heard of her), although she is equally well thought of with 30% favorable and only 3% unfavorable in their views.
Better known than any other star in the Colorado sports constellation is Buffs Coach Deion Sanders, whom 84% recognize. Coach Prime is generally well regarded (50% favorable, 12% unfavorable), and he has one of the least partisan and most unusual ratings with high regard from a disparate patchwork of Colorado sub-groups, from voters of color (51% favorable, 13% unfavorable) to Republican men (66% favorable and only 10% unfavorable).
Coloradans are far more ambivalent regarding the seasons-long issue of Avalanche and Nuggets games being blacked out on a major cable provider. Voters tend to place a pox on both their houses with 13% saying Altitude is more responsible, 10% seeing Comcast as more at fault, and 27% regarding both as equally responsible. Half (50%) simply say they don’t know enough about the issue to place the blame anywhere.
Notably, “committed” Nuggets and Avalanche fans are significantly more likely than Coloradans overall to say Altitude is more responsible (28% and 26% of committed fans for Nuggets and Avs, respectively).
###
About Us: The Colorado Polling Institute is an independent nonprofit launched in 2023 with the mission of elevating the public dialogue and promoting informed decision-making through timely, trustworthy, and nonpartisan public opinion research on the most important issues facing Coloradans.
