How do tennis fans vote in the USA?

[buritobr]

Considering that tennis is an elite sport, one can imagine that outside the USA, most of the tennis fans vote for the right.
But in the USA, social class is not so important anymore to define voting patterns. And considering that many tennis fans are cosmopolitan, maybe, some tennis fans in the USA vote Democratic.

[Skill and Chance]

I'd imagine the nationwide tennis fan demographic is Republican, but inside 60R/40D.  But what's really going on is that tennis fans in the South are like 75%R while tennis fans elsewhere are split about 50/50.  In other words, it basically tracks the voting patterns of the >$150K income demographic.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Anecdotal, but about 2/3 of my fellow fans that I know are probably Republicans, but if I were to split it by race: Whites ~85% Republican; Asians: 40-45% Republican. Both significantly outpace the broad race averages of those I know the affiliation of in the Republican's favor.

There oddly doesn't seem to be any sort of correlation to favorite player oddly.

[pbrower2a]

Tennis fans are usually upscale in education. In the 1950s that would have been strongly Republican. Today that would be lean Democratic. They are usually also above-average in income.... but in 2008 that mattered little. More urban? Tennis seems to have rather few rural Southern fans (contrast NASCAR fans, who would be decidedly right-wing).

Lean Democratic. Liked Ike, voted Obama.

 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Tennis fans are usually upscale in education. In the 1950s that would have been strongly Republican. Today that would be lean Democratic. They are usually also above-average in income.... but in 2008 that mattered little. More urban? Tennis seems to have rather few rural Southern fans (contrast NASCAR fans, who would be decidedly right-wing).

Lean Democratic. Liked Ike, voted Obama.

 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.

I've seen you talk about how income meant little in 2008, and I have to ask why you're referencing a 7-year old stat when a higher income in our last three elections since then (2010, 2012, 2014) has been DIRECTLY proportional to voting Republican.

[RR1997]

I'm a tennis fan and I'm a Republican.

Anecdotal, but out of the 5 other tennis fans I know, 3 don't care about politics, and 2 of them are GOPers.

[YaBoyNY]

My own personal anecdote is that including myself, I know of 3 tennis fans who lean Democrat, 1 who doesn't care about politics, and like 5 who I don't know.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

We talking in terms of owning their own court?

[pbrower2a]

Tennis fans are usually upscale in education. In the 1950s that would have been strongly Republican. Today that would be lean Democratic. They are usually also above-average in income.... but in 2008 that mattered little. More urban? Tennis seems to have rather few rural Southern fans (contrast NASCAR fans, who would be decidedly right-wing).

Lean Democratic. Liked Ike, voted Obama.

 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.

I've seen you talk about how income meant little in 2008, and I have to ask why you're referencing a 7-year old stat when a higher income in our last three elections since then (2010, 2012, 2014) has been DIRECTLY proportional to voting Republican.

2008 may look like an anomaly. Higher-than-average incomes usually relate more to formal education and occupational status, and especially to ethnicity and the urban-suburban divide. 

As late as the 1990s, poor whites tended to vote Democratic. That is over. 2008 reflects the strength of Republicans among poor white people (who, by the way, rarely have any involvement with tennis).  Most poor people in America are white, so such may explain more about the electorate than any obvious correlation between income and voting.

Tennis is at least upper-working class (skilled workers), and largely middle-class and especially upper middle-class, in appeal. If I say "lean D" it is because poor white people do not play or watch tennis.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Tennis fans are usually upscale in education. In the 1950s that would have been strongly Republican. Today that would be lean Democratic. They are usually also above-average in income.... but in 2008 that mattered little. More urban? Tennis seems to have rather few rural Southern fans (contrast NASCAR fans, who would be decidedly right-wing).

Lean Democratic. Liked Ike, voted Obama.

 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.

I've seen you talk about how income meant little in 2008, and I have to ask why you're referencing a 7-year old stat when a higher income in our last three elections since then (2010, 2012, 2014) has been DIRECTLY proportional to voting Republican.

2008 may look like an anomaly. Higher-than-average incomes usually relate more to formal education and occupational status, and especially to ethnicity and the urban-suburban divide. 

As late as the 1990s, poor whites tended to vote Democratic. That is over. 2008 reflects the strength of Republicans among poor white people (who, by the way, rarely have any involvement with tennis).  Most poor people in America are white, so such may explain more about the electorate than any obvious correlation between income and voting.

Tennis is at least upper-working class (skilled workers), and largely middle-class and especially upper middle-class, in appeal. If I say "lean D" it is because poor white people do not play or watch tennis.

And poor minorities do?  My point is that you have said yourself that the wealthy tend to play tennis at a higher rate; they also vote Republican at a higher rate.  You've also seemed to at least insinuate that tennis might attract a Whiter crowd than other sports (anecdotally looking at highlights on TV and passing tennis courts, I wouldn't have trouble believing that), and combining those two (White + wealthy) gives that random voter a much higher chance of being a Republican than being a Democrat, on average.

[pbrower2a]

Although we can all assume that tycoons and business executives heavily vote Republican (they would support Fascists if they could get away with it), not all people with high incomes are Republicans. A physician, dentist, Professionals and merchants who rely heavily upon customers who bring federal payments (as in welfare) are more concerned with their revenue stream than with taxes. Unionized workers are generally above-average in earnings, and go heavily Democratic. People who still have large student loans to pay off are unlikely to support politicians who offer low wages and a constricted money supply.

(One of the little secrets of political life in America and elsewhere: creditors tend to the Right  to the extent that they are creditors; debtors tend to the Left. Big-scale creditors want their hooks in debtors hard -- with tight money and limited opportunity so that their asset debt has maximal value. Debtors would be perfectly happy with an overheated, inflationary economy.

America has comparatively few large-scale creditors who own practically everything. The people who used to have savings accounts and buy life-insurance policies are rare... and those were the moderate conservatives. People in hock up to their eyeballs have no stake in a deflationary economy. Contrast conservatism in the 1950s to what we have today).

I'm going to guess that so long as one controls for the local cost of living, the higher one's income the more likely one is to participate in or watch tennis. You can trust that the black bourgeoisie prefers that its kids play tennis and not football.  Asians? Hispanics? I would guess much the same.

[pbrower2a]

2008 may look like an anomaly. Higher-than-average incomes usually relate more to formal education and occupational status, and especially to ethnicity and the urban-suburban divide. 

As late as the 1990s, poor whites tended to vote Democratic. That is over. 2008 reflects the strength of Republicans among poor white people (who, by the way, rarely have any involvement with tennis).  Most poor people in America are white, so such may explain more about the electorate than any obvious correlation between income and voting.

Tennis is at least upper-working class (skilled workers), and largely middle-class and especially upper middle-class, in appeal. If I say "lean D" it is because poor white people do not play or watch tennis.

And poor minorities do?  My point is that you have said yourself that the wealthy tend to play tennis at a higher rate; they also vote Republican at a higher rate.  You've also seemed to at least insinuate that tennis might attract a Whiter crowd than other sports (anecdotally looking at highlights on TV and passing tennis courts, I wouldn't have trouble believing that), and combining those two (White + wealthy) gives that random voter a much higher chance of being a Republican than being a Democrat, on average.

1. The majority of poor people in America are white, and poor whites now vote strongly Republican now. Maybe not as strongly as poor blacks and Hispanics vote Democratic... but it is arguable that poor Americans do not vote Democratic any more.

Tennis usually is an urban sport, and some black and Hispanic kid may be encouraged to try it -- and begin to love it. Poor whites are much more rural.

Take any large group of Republican-leaning voters from a group that has no obvious links to politics, and that group skews Democratic.

2. Most people with above-average income are not rich. Preferring tennis (or golf)  to football, basketball, baseball, or soccer suggests above-average education and occupational achievement.  Many identifiable groups with above-average income and occupational status  vote heavily Democratic -- like Jews and Asian-Americans. The black bourgeoisie is about as Democratic in its vote as poor blacks... likewise non-Cuban Hispanics.

Tennis is clearly elite, but it is not so elite that it is out of reach of the middle class.  An activity like sailing, which is extremely limited to economic elites who have plenty of time and money on their hands, would be very clearly R-leaning.