On Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals will play the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI — though many Americans who plan to watch the Super Bowl are not tuning in for the game itself.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll indicates that 54% of men say they will be watching, compared with 40% of women. While half of those U.S. adults who plan on watching (52%) say their favorite part of the Super Bowl is the actual game, 27% are there for the commercials. Another 17% of Americans who plan to watch say their favorite part is the halftime show, which this year will feature performances from Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige.
Women (39%) who plan to watch the Super Bowl are less likely than men (63%) to say the game is their favorite part. Women who intend to tune in are more likely than male viewers to prefer the commercials (32% vs 23%) or the halftime show (25% vs 11%).
Half of Americans (53%) do not really care whether the Bengals or the Rams win the game this weekend, though the Bengals (25%) are very slightly preferred to the Rams (22%).
Among those who will “definitely” or “probably” watch the Super Bowl, 27% don’t care who wins on Sunday. However, while likely viewers narrowly support the Bengals (38% of likely viewers want the Bengals to win, compared to 35% for the Rams), most don’t expect a Bengals win. Instead, the Rams appear to be the clear favorite to win, in Vegas and across the country: 47% of likely viewers expect the Rams will take home the trophy, compared to 32% who think the Bengals will win.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online between February 5 - 8, 2022. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the 2018 American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as 2016 and 2020 Presidential votes (or non-votes). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3% for the overall sample.
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