World Series: Ratings and Polls [J. Mark English]

America's national pastime is on the rebound according to the ratings released from last night's game one of the World Series between the Colorado Rockies and the Boston Red Sox. The lopsided game did not seem to affect much in terms of a viewing audience.

This is from James Hibberd's blog on TV Week:

With the popular Boston Red Sox playing the Colorado Rockies, the game hit a 5.8 rating among adults 18 to 49 in the national Nielsens, up 61 percent from last year's Cardinals-Tigers match.

Among total viewers, the game was seen by 16.9 million, up 31 percent.

The figures reverse a World Series Game 1 downward trend in recent years, despite the match being a blowout, with the Sox winning 13 to 1.

Like any major sporting event, the game throws its competitors numbers off balance, making week-to-week comparisons suspect.

Meanwhile, a Fox News poll attempted to take the pulse of the nation as to its thoughts on the World Series. Here are there results:
Equal shares of Americans (33 percent) are rooting for the Boston Red Sox (red) and Colorado Rockies (purple) in the World Series, according to the latest FOX News poll.

Interestingly, among those who identify themselves as baseball fans (48 percent overall), the underdog Rockies are the favorites — by a 49 percent to 40 percent margin....

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from Oct. 23 to Oct. 24 — the latter being the date of World Series Game One. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

The poll also shows that when the focus shifts from the team respondents want to win to the team they think will win, results are quite different. In this setting, a solid plurality (43 percent) say the American League Champion Red Sox will win, while just under one-quarter (24 percent) feel the National League Champion Rockies will prevail in the 103rd Fall Classic.

This sentiment is even more intense among self-identifying baseball fans, with the Red Sox viewed as likely victors by 57 percent of fans.

Despite the growing dominance of NFL football in American sports culture, nearly half of Americans (48 percent) say they consider themselves baseball fans.