Last week, ESPN laid off over 100 employees blaming cord-cutting and steady year-to-year cable subscriber losses. Many conservatives believe the reason that ESPN is losing subscribers is because they are inserting politics into their programming and leaning too much to the left
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) April 26, 2017
According to a newly-published YouGov poll, there appears to be evidence that conservatives are turning against the network.
There is some truth to the idea that conservatives have grown cold to the sports network. YouGov numbers show that ESPN impression scores among Republicans have dropped from around 32 in 2013 to just above 16 in 2017. Democrats, meanwhile, have kept a relatively stable view of the network during the same period.
Last week’s layoffs probably had more to do with the insane amount of money the company is spending on their TV rights deals rather than their supposed “left-leaning” agenda, but it can’t be good that a large portion of the population feels that you’re abandoning them for reasons that have nothing to do with sports.
Via Youguv
Whether ESPN’s programming has become more liberal in recent years or not is beside the point; the figures suggest that enough Republicans believe it has, and this belief has ostensibly contributed to their diminished view of the sports network.
