So here is the situation you find yourself in: it's Saturday afternoon, you're headed to your favorite college football venue, and you have an extra ticket in hand. Who are you bringing along? The kicker is that you only have two choices, current President elect Barack Obama or presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
College football fans have spoken in this week's Discover Fan Loyalty Poll and they have chosen Mr. Romney. He received 53% of the vote to President Obama's 42% when fans were asked who they would like to sit next to during a game while 5% weren't really sure.
Politics aside, the results were slightly surprising given the fact that President Obama has been known as a bit of a sports fan even if his fandom seems a bit skewed towards basketball.
Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to sit next to either one and it has nothing to do with either candidate or any political views, but rather having to deal with the Secret Service cramping my style while I'm trying to watch a college football game.
All joking aside, Romney carried the vote in all but one of the six BCS conferences with only the Big Ten siding with President Obama. Fifty-two percent of the fans in the Big Ten said they would rather sit next to President Obama to 43% for Romney.
In the Big 12, 57% chose Romney while 40% went with Obama which were numbers that were generally in line with the rest of the country.
The second poll question of the week was which candidate would you choose to buy a round for the crowd at your team's next home game?
Romney again carried the day receiving 50% of the vote to 39% for President Obama while 10% couldn't make up their mind and weren't sure.
Even the Big Ten's fans swung in favor of Romney on this one with 48% saying they would pick him to buy the crowd a round. Romney carried the vote in every conference on this question. I guess the downside of having a deep pocketbook means that sometimes your left paying the tab.
In the weekly fan poll of the country's top teams, Alabama continues to lead the way with 42% of those questioned saying the Crimson Tide are the best team in the country. That was down slightly from last week's poll when Alabama received 49% of the poll.
Notre Dame came out of nowhere to assume the fourth position in this week's poll after not making the top eight in last week's poll. That's probably a result of the Fighting Irish's continued strong play combined with the fact that three teams in last week's poll lost over the weekend.
Here's a look at the entire top ten as voted on by the fans.
- Alabama 42%
- Oregon 17%
- Florida 5%
- Notre Dame 5%
- South Carolina 4%
- West Virginia 4%
- Ohio State 4%
- Kansas State 2%
- Some other team 10%
- Not sure 8%
Along with Notre Dame, Ohio State debuted in the week's poll following their 63-38 win over Nebraska. Oregon also gained a bit of momentum following their win over Washington getting 17% of the vote this week after checking in 9% the week prior.
Turfburner.com is excited to be an official correspondent for the Discover Fan Loyalty Poll throughout the rest of the season.
Discover is the official sponsor of the 2013 BCS National Championship game as well the 2013 Orange Bowl. You can keep up with the latest happenings at Discover by following them on Facebook as well as Twitter.
The 15-week Discover Fan Loyalty Poll is conducted by Rasmussen Reports, a nationally recognized leader in polling, who gathers sentiment by phone from 800 college football fans who follow games at least once per week on television, radio, in person or online.
Discover launched the Fan Loyalty Poll to give die-hard fans a platform to showcase their dedication and love for their favorite college football team leading up to the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game and 2013 Discover Orange Bowl. Each week the poll will offer new questions about what college football fans are thinking this season.
Beyond title sponsorship of the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game and 2013 Discover Orange Bowl, Discover's commitment to college football includes relationships with ESPN and Notre Dame Football on NBC.
