Dallas Cowboys Not Only Favorite Team, But Also Named Likely To Win Super Bowl

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – October 14, 2008 – They may not have won a Super Bowl in a few years, but the Dallas Cowboys are the favorite football team among adults who follow professional football, the same spot they were in last year. These are the results of a nationwide survey conducted online by Harris Interactive^® between September 15 and 22, 2008 among 2,315 U.S. adults, of whom 1,193 follow professional football. Other results include:

• Rounding out the top five favorite football teams are the New England Patriots (#2), the Indianapolis Colts (#3), the Pittsburgh Steelers (#4) and the Green Bay Packers (#5);
• The three teams that have gained the most this year are the Buffalo Bills, who moved up 10 spots (from No. 30 to No. 20, the New York Jets who moved up 8 spots (from No 17 to tied for No 9), and the San Francisco 49ers who gained 7 spots (from tied for No. 19 to No 12)
• The two teams that lost the most ground since last year are the Cincinnati Bengals, who dropped 14 spots, from No.18 in 2007 to No. 32, or last place, this year, and the Cleveland Browns, who moved from No. 13 to tied for No. 22, a drop of nine points;
• The percentage of those who say they follow professional football has moved up a little this year as just over half of all adults (52%) now say they follow professional football compared to 49 percent in 2007;
• Perhaps, not surprisingly, men (65%) are more likely to follow professional football than women (39%);
• Certain groups are more likely than others to follow professional football – college graduates (64%), those with a household income of over $75,000 (60%), those in the Midwest (57%), and Baby Boomers (those aged 44-62) (56%); and,
• It’s not just Obama versus McCain that cause partisan differences. While almost three in five Republicans (59%) follow professional football only 47 percent of Democrats say the same.

Adults who follow professional football were also asked to look into the future and say which team they think will win the Super Bowl next February 1^st. Three in ten follow the favorite team and say the Dallas Cowboys will win the Super Bowl (30%) while 11 percent say it will be the New England Patriots and 10 percent believe it will be the Indianapolis Colts. The other Manning brother and current Super Bowl Champions, the New York Giants are chosen to repeat by 8 percent of those who follow professional football. For almost all the other teams, there are die-hard fans who believe, as 31 of the 32 NFL teams are named as a potential Super Bowl winner by at least some respondents (albeit some at a very small percentage). The only exception are the Detroit Lions who were not chosen by anyone to potentially win the Super Bowl.

"Do you follow professional football?"

Base: All adults

"Do you follow professional football?"

Base: All adults

"What are your two favorite National Football League teams?"

Base: Adults who follow professional football

"=" indicates a tie

NA = not applicable for that year.

Note: Respondents provided list of teams

In 1998, 1999 the Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers.

"Regardless of your favorite team, who do you think will win the Super Bowl this year?"

Base: Adults who follow professional football

Note: * indicates response of less than 0.5 percent

Note: - indicates no response

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between September 15 and 22, 2008 among 2,315 adults (aged 18 and over) of whom 1,193 follow professional football. 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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