Super Bowl LVI: Football Fans Favor L.A. Rams

Football remains America’s favorite sport, and a plurality of fans expect the Los Angeles Rams to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 48% of American Adults who regularly follow professional football believe the Rams will win the NFL championship game Sunday, while 40% think the Bengals will win the Super Bowl. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirty-three percent (33%) say football is their favorite sport to follow, down from 41% in 2017 and 20 points lower than in 2012. Baseball and basketball are now tied for second-most favorite sport, at 13% each, followed by soccer (6%), auto racing (5%), hockey and golf (both 4%) and tennis (2%). Ten percent (10%) say some other sport is their favorite and another 10% are not sure.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of adults say they follow professional football on television, in person, on the radio or online at least once a week. Another 24% follow professional football occasionally, while 34% rarely or never follow professional football.

This year’s Super Bowl will be the first since seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement. Among fans who follow professional football at least weekly, 55% say Brady is the greatest quarterback in football history, and only 28% disagree, while another 18% are not sure. Last week, when we asked the same question of all American Adults, only 41% said Brady was the greatest ever.

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The survey of 1,000 U.S. American Adults was conducted on February 7-8, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Among those who follow pro football at least weekly, 30% say they have been more interested this season, 25% say they have been less interested, and 41% say their level of interest in the game is unchanged.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of fans who follow pro football weekly say it’s likely they’ll watch Sunday’s Super Bowl, including 64% who say it’s Very Likely they’ll watch the NFL championship game. Twelve percent (12%) say it’s not likely they’ll watch the Super Bowl.

More men (37%) than women (29%) say football is their favorite sport to follow, and men (25%) are nearly twice as likely as women (13%) to say they follow pro football more than once a week. Among those who follow professional football weekly, far more men (53%) than women (41%) expect the L.A. Rams to win Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Significantly more black fans (45%) than whites (28%) or other minorities (29%) say their interest in professional football has increased this season.

Americans with incomes of $200,000 a year or more are most likely to say they follow professional football at least weekly.

Among those who follow football weekly and say it’s Very Likely they’ll watch Sunday’s game, 56% expect the Rams to win the Super Bowl, compared to just (9%) who expect the Rams to win among those who say it’s Not At All Likely they’ll be watching Sunday.

ABC’s decision to suspend “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg for her comments about the Holocaust is supported by most Americans, who nonetheless think “cancel culture” is out of control.

Most Americans say this winter hasn’t been worse than usual, but they believe climate change could cause severe snow storms.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available.

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