Football is still America’s favorite sport — and baseball is striking out, according to a new Gallup poll.
Thirty-seven percent of US adults say gridiron action is their No. 1 pick over soccer, basketball and baseball, though football has lost some yards since 2008 when 43 percent reported it their favorite, the poll found.
Pro football’s numbers took a hit amid the summer’s National Anthem controversy, when Gallup found that 57 percent of Americans reported liking the NFL compared to 67 percent just five years earlier.
Still, respondents to Gallup’s poll released Thursday lined up behind football regardless of their age, sex or political affiliation — though the study did not look at particular leagues, but rather the sports in general.
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Football has come under stronger scrutiny in recent years over the NFL’s treatment of players accused of domestic violence, as well as the connection between head injuries and the sport.
Meanwhile, fandom for “America’s pastime” baseball is at an all-time low of just 9 percent — its most dismal rating since Gallup started asking in 1937. It was tops until supplanted by football in 1972, which has not not let go of the lead spot since.
Basketball came in second with 11 percent, and soccer netted 7 percent, a record high, Gallup notes.
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