Most people have heard of the NFL concussion problem. Most will still let their kid play football.
The cognitive dissonance.
Donald Miralle/Getty Images
Most Americans know there’s a risk of concussion from playing football — and most Americans also say they’d let their kids play the sport.
In the week leading up to the Super Bowl in 2016, Vox worked with Morning Consult to poll 1,870 registered voters about their attitudes toward football. We found that 87 percent of respondents had heard about the concussion problem facing the NFL — but 67 percent were comfortable letting their own kids play
People who planned to watch the Super Bowl, we found, were way more willing to let their kids play football than those who planned to sit out the event.
You can see more about our findings in the graphic above — and take a deeper dive into the numbers below.
Tea Partiers and independents are more likely to let their kids play football
- Republicans (66 percent) were more likely than Democrats (61 percent) to say they would let their kid play football, while independents were the most likely to let their kid play (72 percent).
- It split more on gender lines. Republican men (76 percent), Democratic men (71 percent), and independent men (80 percent) were more likely to let their kids play than any group of women. For women, independents were the most likely (65 percent), followed by Republican women (59 percent) and Democratic women (51 percent).
- 76 percent of Tea Party supporters would let their kid play, versus 62 percent of non–Tea Party supporters.
- When it came to political interests, people who cared most about women’s issues were the least likely to let their kids play (48 percent).
Education and income matter less than you might think. Same with race and religion.
- Education mattered — but only for those who had a postgrad degree. Of those with a bachelor’s, 68 percent said they’d let their kids play, versus 69 percent for those with less than a bachelor’s. Just 47 percent of those with a postgrad degree said they’d let their kid play.
- Income didn’t have an effect, at least when it came to people who made under $50,000, between $50,000 and $100,000, and more than $100,000.
- Race mattered a little, with Hispanics and African Americans (both 72 percent) more likely to let their kid play than whites (64 percent).
- Religion had some effect. Protestants (63 percent) and Roman Catholics (63 percent) were equally likely, while atheists, agnostics, and other nonreligious people were slightly more likely (68 percent). Evangelical Christians were the most likely (73 percent).
Most surprising? The South isn’t the football hub you might think it to be.
- There weren’t huge regional differences, but people who lived in the Northeast were less likely to let their kids play (62 percent), followed by the South (64 percent), Midwest (66 percent), and West (72 percent).
- We also asked about whether people would let their kids play soccer. Overall, 83 percent said yes, which hints that a certain percentage of people don’t want their kids playing any sport. But it also suggests that maybe some people just don’t want their kid playing soccer.
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