Poll: Football favorite sport in U.S.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A poll of U.S. adults found football was far and away the favorite sport of respondents, with 41 percent calling the game their favorite sport to watch.

The Gallup Organization said its annual Lifestyle poll of 1,009 adults, conducted Dec. 4-7, found only 10 percent of those surveyed chose second-place baseball as their favorite sport to watch and 9 percent picked basketball.

Gallup said the question was first asked in a 1937 poll and has been periodically updated. Football first overtook baseball as the preferred sport for viewing in 1972 and has held the top spot ever since. More than 40 percent of respondents have chosen football as their favorite sport to watch for the past three years, Gallup said.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.