Poll: Football, not baseball, is the real national pastime

Football has been more popular than baseball since the late 1960s, but kudos to Bloomberg for including a masterful piece of trolling in its latest poll. It's mostly about boring stuff like do you approve of Barack Obama's handling of health care or what do you think about Scott Walker.

But at the end, the poll asks: "A national pastime is a sport considered to be a central part of the culture of a nation. In the U.S. today, do you think that sport is baseball or football?"

Football won by a whopping 67–28 margin.

Based on Gallup's data about sport popularity, basketball is actually about as popular as baseball.

Under the circumstances, it would have been great to get basketball in there as a possible pastime, too.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Millions turn to Vox to educate themselves, their family, and their friends about what’s happening in the world around them, and to learn about things that spark their curiosity. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via