Who Is Your Favorite Sports Star, America? Tiger Woods Remains At the Top of the List, While Derek Jeter Rises to the Number Two Position

So who is America’s favorite sports star? While Tiger Woods remains the favorite for the second straight year, Derek Jeter is rising from the ranks. After just four years on the list, Jeter has gone from the fourth spot in 2006 to number two this year. Although he has been retired for a few years, Michael Jordan topped the list until last year when he dropped to number two. This year, he drops once again to number three. Among female athletes, Serena Williams displaces her sister Venus in the number one spot and Danica Patrick races up from number five last year to number two this year.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive^® among a nationwide sample of 2,372 U.S. adults between June 5 and 11, 2007.

Other athletes who make it into this year’s Top 10 list of favorite sports stars (after Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan) are Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre (No. 4), Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James (No. 5), race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (No. 6), the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan (No. 7), Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning (No. 8), LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant (No. 9), New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (No. 10). Both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady return to the list after dropping off last year while Tim Duncan makes his first appearance ever. On the other side, Shaquille O’Neal, Jeff Gordon and Barry Bonds have all dropped off the list this year.

Regionally, Derek Jeter is number one in the East and Brett Favre reigns in the Midwest, while Tiger Woods is the favorite in the South and West. There are also differences in favorites by generation. Both Echo Boomers (those ages 18 to 29) and Baby Boomers (those ages 42 to 60) still carry a torch for the retired Michael Jordan, while Tiger Woods is number one with both Gen Xers (those ages 30 to 41) and Matures (those ages 61 and older). Considering all of these differences, notably men and women both agree that Tiger Woods is number one.

Serena and Venus Williams continue to battle for the top position in the list of America’s favorite female sports stars. Last year’s number one, Venus, drops to number three while her sister Serena now occupies the top spot and race car driver Danica Patrick takes the second spot. Following the top three is former soccer star Mia Hamm (No. 4), tennis player Maria Sharapova (No. 5), golfer Annika Sorenstam (No. 6), boxer Layla Ali (No. 7), teen golfer Michelle Wie (No. 8), tennis player Anna Kournikova (No. 9) and figure skater Michelle Kwan (No. 10).

Serena Williams is the number one female sports star with both men and women. Among generations, there is a split as the youngest (Echo Boomers) and oldest (Matures) both say Danica Patrick is their favorite while the middle age groups, Gen X and Baby Boomers, both say Serena Williams. Race also shows a difference. Whites say Danica Patrick is their favorite, Blacks say it is Serena Williams and for Hispanics, Maria Sharapova is number one.

Harris Interactive has asked the question "Who is your favorite sports star?" of the public almost every year since 1993, and this year’s Top 10 contains an interesting mix of sports stars, with four basketball players, one race car driver, one baseball player, one golfer and three football players. With David Beckham beginning to play here in the US, it will be interesting to see if he can garner enough attention to the sport to expand this list next year to include a soccer player for the first time.

"Who is your favorite sports star?"

Base: All adults

* Not listed in that year

Peyton Manning (was No. 2 in 2005) and Tom Brady (was No. 7 in 2005)

Tim Duncan (#7)

Shaquille O’Neal (was No. 6), Jeff Gordon (was tied for No. 9), Barry Bonds (was tied No. 9)

Base: All adults

"Thinking about the female sports stars you like, which ones are your favorites?"

Base: All adults

* Not listed in that year

Layla Ali (No. 7)

Sasha Cohen (was No. 10)

Base: All adults

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between June 5 and 11, 2007 among 2,372 adults, Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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