61%: Don’t care if NBA ever returns
With the NBA players and owners locked in a labor dispute that has cancelled games through December 15th and could possibly wipe out the entire season, we wanted to know what you think about the future of professional basketball. In a Poll Position national scientific telephone survey we asked, with talks stalled and the season in jeopardy, do you care if there is ever NBA basketball again? A majority of Americans, 61% said they do not care, 24% did care and 14% did not have an opinion.
The labor dispute centers around revenue sharing. Talks have broken down and the action has moved from negotiations to the courts. Unless there is a breakthrough the status of this season is uncertain and looking bleaker by the day.
African-Americans did care if there was never NBA basketball again with 48% saying yes, 35% said no, they did not care and 17% did not have an opinion. Whites differed with 68% saying they did not care if there was ever NBA basketball again, 21% did care and 11% offered no opinion.
More men than women did not care if NBA basketball ever returned with 67% of men saying they did not care, to 56% of women who said they also would not care.
Politicians differed slightly on the question with 52% of Democrats saying they did not care if there was ever professional basketball again, 61% of Republicans said no, they did not care. A large number of Independents, 73% said they did not care if the NBA ever returned. Democrats seemingly would miss professional basketball most with 31% saying they did care if there is ever NBA basketball again.
Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,220 registered voters nationwide was conducted November 19, 2011 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
What do you think? Vote in our online companion poll and comment below.
The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.
Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation. Here are the crosstabs for this poll: Poll Position Crosstabs-NBA never again
You can learn more about our polling methodology here.
