President Trump, who for two years has shunned throwing out an opening day first pitch, isn’t the only one with little interest in baseball.
In a troubling new fan survey, a majority of Americans are balking at watching “America’s pastime,” which opened its season on Thursday.
A Marist Poll found that just 44 percent watch the game. Some 56 percent do not.
Fan support hasn’t been that low since 2009.
RECAP: An unforgettable #OpeningDay ends with a @SimplyAJ10 #walkoff.
More: https://t.co/a6PQqBhiEe#Birdland pic.twitter.com/p8qDX5FpYQ
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) March 30, 2018
So far, Trump hasn’t joined in the practice of presidents throwing out the first pitch on opening day, started by William Howard Taft in 1912. Only one president since then, Jimmy Carter, didn’t participate.
The poll found that the sport is especially losing younger fans. “Older Americans (51 percent of those age 45 or older) are more likely than younger Americans (37 percent of those under the age of 45) to say they are baseball fans,” said Marist.
And it appears to be becoming a regional sport, with a slight majority of fans in the Northeast and Midwest but just 39 percent in the South and West calling themselves fans.
