Poll: Democrats, Republicans dramatically split on Super Bowl favorites

The Hollywood Reporter, in conjunction with Penn Schoen Berland, releases its first ever Super Bowl Poll in this week’s issue, on newsstands Thursday. In it we mine some interesting nuggets, such as, who is the most disliked Super Bowl athlete? Remember, we said athlete, so “Joe Buck” is wrong. It’s Ben Roethlisberger, which may not surprise you. But when the question is expanded to include all NFL players, Big Ben only comes in fourth.

The results show that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is the most disliked player going into Sunday’s game and the fourth most disliked player in the league — behind Brett Favre, Michael Vick and Tom Brady.

Roethlisberger finishes behind Tom Brady? Jeremy Piven is livid.

But more interesting to me are these numbers: Democrats and Republicans are pretty widely split on Super Bowl team loyalties. Overall, fans are favoring the Packers 45 percent to 39 percent. But among Dems, 45 percent are rooting for the Steelers vs. 41 percent for the Packers. And among Republicans, 53 percent like the Packers, vs. only 33 percent for the Steelers. I know, Pennsylvania is a blue state, while Wisconsin sometimes trends red. But remember that this is a national poll. Meanwhile, the Tea Party still thinks the Patriots have a chance.

Also:

Whites: 48 percent are rooting for the Packers vs. 37 percent for the Steelers.

Non-Whites: 42 percent are rooting for the Steelers vs. 40 percent for the Packers.

It doesn’t bode well for Obama’s call for unity and bipartisanship if we are so deeply divided along racial and political lines on the Super Bowl. He should call for both benches to sit together during the game.

Also, the poll shows that 78 percent of Americans plan to watch the game — up five percent from last year and ten percent from 2009. Advertisers, take note.

***
THR POLL: Super Bowl Headed for Record Ratings [The Hollywood Reporter]