Why is baseball no longer America’s Game?

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… Just 11% of adults listed baseball as their favorite sport to watch in a 2021 Washington Post poll. That put it well behind football (34%) and tied with basketball for the second favorite sport. Soccer and “something else” (e.g. esports/competitive video gaming) were closely behind at 7%.

When examining the poll more in-depth, the problem baseball has becomes both more apparent — and even scarier. A mere 7% of those under the age of 30 say baseball is their favorite sport. This ranked fifth behind football (24%), basketball (17%), “something else” (12%) and soccer (10%). …

Baseball hadn’t ranked as America’s favorite sport to watch since 1960, when 34% said it was. Soccer that year came in at less than 0.5%, while football picked up 21% support. By the next poll Gallup did on the subject in 1972, baseball was second to football. CONTINUED

Harry Enten, CNN

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The Religion of the Supreme Court Justices

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In her Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings in March, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, “What faith are you, by the way?” Jackson replied that she was a nondenominational Protestant.

Jackson, who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, will be only the second Protestant on the high court when she joins the court this summer, along with Neil Gorsuch (who is Episcopalian but was raised Catholic). The justice whom Jackson will replace, Stephen Breyer, is Jewish, as is Elena Kagan, who remains on the court. The remaining six justices — John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — are Catholic. Thus, the court will consist of six Catholics, two Protestants, and one Jew.

This is not reflective of the U.S. population, as has been widely discussed in recent years. Our latest estimate from over 15,000 Gallup interviews conducted from January 2021 through March of this year shows that about 22% of the adult population identifies as Catholic, as opposed to the 67% Catholic representation on the court. CONTINUED

Frank Newport, Gallup

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Voters in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District weigh in on issues ahead of midterms

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Democrats aim to balance multiple crises ahead of November’s midterm elections. Voters in Livingston County, Mich., share their concerns about inflation and their views of President Biden.

Asma Khalid, NPR News

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NBC poll shows major shift in Congressional preference since 2018

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Steve Kornacki breaks down education and gender differences in Congressional preference from our latest NBC News poll.

MTP Daily, MSNBC

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Treating Politics Like the NCAA Tournament

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According to the PredictIt betting odds, there is an 84 percent chance that Republicans will capture the House in November, a 77 percent chance that the GOP wins a Senate majority, and a 72 percent chance that Republicans end up controlling both.

Generally speaking, I am not a big fan of the betting markets as indicators, and there are at least a dozen experts who follow congressional elections for a living whose opinion I would value more. But as a way of quantifying the conventional wisdom, the odds are helpful. CONTINUED

Charlie Cook

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Economic sentiment recoups past two month’s losses

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Economic sentiment continues its rebound. Ipsos-Forbes Advisor U.S. Consumer Confidence Tracker is up 1.9 points from two weeks ago to now read at 55.4. This rebound is most marked in the Investment and Current sub-indices, amid a recent market rally. The uptick in consumer confidence corresponds with improvement in President Biden’s approval rating. CONTINUED

Ipsos

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