Sports

Poll: CT Fans Back New York Yankees Over Boston Red Sox

A new QU Poll finds there are more Yankees fans than Red Sox fans in the state, although the Sox remain the favorite in Tolland County.

The team might be up by a game and a half and lead the season series against the New York Yankees, but the Boston Red Sox have dropped to second in the eyes of the majority of Connecticut baseball fans.

A new Quinnipiac University poll recently released shows that the Bronx Bombers now own 43 percent of Nutmeg fans to the Red Sox 38 percent - the Yankees biggest lead since 2007.

And the New York Mets? Well, the Mets can brag about 7 percent of Connecticut fan support based on the university's annual Connecticut Pennant Race poll; the remaining one percent support other teams.

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The independent survey was conducted among the 56 percent of Connecticut adults who say they are “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in Major League Baseball.

Men back the Yankees 47 to 35 percent while women go to the Red Sox 42 to 39 percent.   

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As is traditionally so the Yankees fans predominately live west of the Connecticut River, while those in eastern Connecticut remain loyal to Boston. The Yankees are strongest in Fairfield County, where they lead the Sox 57 to 16 percent, with 15 percent for the Mets. Tolland, New London and Windham counties go to the Red Sox 67 to 27 percent, with 3 percent for the Mets.

“Forget the AL East standings. The Yankees have topped the Red Sox in eight of our nine Connecticut Pennant Races,” Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said.  “The gender gap, with men backing the Bombers and women backing the Red Sox, might make for some interesting family discussions – or dating dynamics.”

“In 2003, our first poll, the Yankees led by 14 points. The Red Sox chipped away at that lead until they took a statistically insignificant one point lead in 2008.”

From June 8 through 13, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,456 Connecticut adults with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. The poll was conducted via live interviewers, landlines and cell phones.


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