Excited About March Madness? Then You Could Be One of the Most Politically Moderate Sports Fans

March 18, 2013 | 12:12 p.m.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino during the second half of the Cardinals' game against Notre Dame at the Big East Conference tournament Friday in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

March Madness is officially upon us. As you fill out your NCAA tournament bracket, take a look at what your love of college basketball (or just of competitively filling out brackets) says about your political leanings:

This data, compiled last fall by Mike Shannon and Will Feltus for Hotline on Call and based on an analysis of more 200,000 interviews conducted by Scarborough Research, shows college basketball fans to be the some of the most bipartisan sports fans out there, just slightly more Republican leaning than Major League Baseball fans.

And while college basketball may not have the professional-level talent of the NBA, its audience is far more likely to turn out to vote. As the data above shows, college basketball fans actually vote at a higher rate than just about any other fan base, outside of those apparently dutiful professional golf watchers.

So while you may spend much of the next couple of weeks hating Duke and everything it stands for, take solace in the fact that, politically speaking, you all represent a civic-minded, sports-loving middle.

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