Sports Fans Are Bridging America’s Political Divide
Summary: Sports bring people together in ways few other parts of American life can. More in Common, in partnership with FOX Sports, conducted a comprehensive study on the role of sports fandom in civic life. We find that sports fandom is more than entertainment — it is a unexpected tool to bolster our democracy. You can read the full report here.
For many Americans, sports are one of the few places where people from all walks of life regularly come together. From Friday night football to March Madness brackets in the office, fandom is a deeply shared cultural ritual. At the same time, life in the United States feels increasingly fractured. Our political institutions are viewed with skepticism, partisan divides run deep, and loneliness continues to rise.
Against this backdrop, sports offer a unique opportunity for Americans to come together. Sports provide a sense of belonging, identity, and connection that cuts across the divides that so often characterize American life. But it’s easy to overlook the ways that stadiums, sports bars, or even living rooms on game day influence how people see their communities and one another.
Building on the framework developed by Ben Valenta and David Sijorak in their 2022 book Fans Have More Friends, we explored how sports connect to civic engagement, political attitudes, and the willingness of Americans to work across differences.
We fielded a nationally representative survey of more than 5,200 American adults, alongside qualitative panels with over 200 participants.1 We found that passionate sports fans are more civically engaged, more likely to support democratic norms, and more willing to connect across political divides than their non-fan peers. They are also more likely to give to charity, attend political meetings, donate blood, and contribute to their communities.
Today’s newsletter highlights two of the most important findings from this research.
1. Sports fandom softens the divides that come with political engagement.
We expected to find that sports fans were less polarized than non-fans, but what we found surprised us. Sports fans tend to be both more politically engaged but less polarized than non-fans.
92% of the most passionate fans2 are registered to vote, compared to 75% of non-fans.
64% participate in local elections, compared to 35% of non-fans.
53% of these fans follow politics closely, compared to 29% of non-fans.
These fans also show greater interest in cross-partisan conversation (68% vs. 46% express interest) and working toward mutual goals with those holding different political views (82% vs. 65% express interest)
Typically, our research has found that people who are most politically engaged are also the most likely to misunderstand and distrust members of the opposing political party. Yet sports fans tend to be both more interested in politics and also less polarized. Our results show that sports fandom may protect people from some of the downsides of political engagement.
Importantly, these democratic benefits of sports fandom appear across political parties: Republican and Democratic fans report higher levels of civic participation and openness to collaboration than their non-fan counterparts.
2. Fans bridge divides and support democratic norms
At a time when confidence in democratic institutions is wavering and partisan conflict often feels insurmountable, sports fandom appears to reinforce rather than erode shared values. Passionate fans are not only more likely to see democracy as the best form of government, but they also express stronger support for constitutional rules, bipartisan cooperation, and the belief that Americans share more in common than what divides us.
73% of the most passionate sports fans say democracy is “definitely” the best form of government compared to just 53% of non-fans.
87% want both parties to work together to address the problems in the US compared to 77% of non-fans.
The most passionate fans are also slightly more likely to agree that “the president should always act within the rules of the Constitution” and that “Americans have more in common than what divides us,” compared to non-fans.
Why this matters
While sports alone may not cure political division or loneliness, they provide one of America’s most enduring shared rituals. Recognizing the connective power of sports can help leaders, institutions, and communities find new ways to strengthen participation and bring Americans together across divides.
What sports teams do you root for? Have you met other fans who are different from you? Let us know in the comments!
You can read the full report here.
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This project is a collaboration between More in Common and FOX Sports. It draws on a nationally representative survey of over 5,200 American adults, alongside qualitative panels with more than 200 participants, conducted in spring and summer 2025. Margin of Error: +/- 1.36% for US average and higher for subgroups
Level of fandom was calculated using the framework developed by Ben Valenta and David Sijorak in their 2022 book Fans Have More Friends. This framework distinguishes respondents as Non-Fans (those who don’tfollow sports at all), Low Value, Mid Value or High Value fans (those who follow sports most closely and most passionately). Here “most passionate fans” refers to High Value fans.