Most NFL fans are rooting against the Patriots in the Super Bowl — but they still think they'll win
- The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams meet Sunday in Atlanta to compete for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIII.
- An INSIDER poll asked respondents which team they were cheering for in the big game, and which side they thought would win.
- While the Rams were the preferred winner, most respondents still believe the Patriots are more likely to come out on top.
- You can follow all of our coverage of Super Bowl LIII here.
When the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams meet Sunday in Atlanta to compete for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIII, most fans outside of the greater Boston area will be cheering on the underdogs.
With the Patriots now almost a full two decades into the Belichick-Brady dynasty, it's no surprise that casual fans have grown a bit tired of cheering for the front-runners. However, while most fans will be rooting against New England come Sunday, an INSIDER poll found that viewers have learned from years of experience that a Patriots win is the most likely outcome.
INSIDER ran a poll on SurveyMonkey Audience with 1,175 respondents from January 22 to 23, 2019. We asked respondents first who they wanted to win the Super Bowl, and later who they thought would win the Super Bowl.
Those with strong opinions broke for L.A. All told, 25% of respondents strongly prefer a Los Angeles Rams win, compared to just 11% who strongly prefer a New England Patriots win.
Overall, 21% of respondents at least somewhat want New England to win. Double that — 42% — want the Rams to win the Super Bowl. 37% of respondents don’t have a preference either way.
Still, New England’s reputation precedes them. When asked who they thought would end up winning the Super Bowl, 42% said New England, 18% said Los Angeles, with 40% saying they didn’t think either team was a favorite or that they didn’t know.
15% of respondents prefer the Rams and think they’ll win and 16% like New England and think they’ll win.
Even those cheering for the Rams seem to think their preferred outcome to be unlikely. A massive chunk, 17% of respondents, want the Rams to win but think the Pats will win. A mere 1% of respondents like the Patriots but think the Rams will win.
Breaking out by region, a full 68% of respondents from New England think the Patriots will win while 9% have gone against the home team and believe L.A. will take it. The Pacific region is less confident in their Rams, which in their defense may be more related to the presence of 5 different NFL teams rather than the one in New England. Still, 30% of Pacific region residents think New England will take the match compared to 26% who have the Rams' back.
Los Angeles may be the fan favorite in this year's Super Bowl, but even those cheering for the Rams still seem to need to be convinced that they have a chance to win.
- More Super Bowl LIII coverage:
The 31 best prop bets you can make on the Super Bowl
The player who won Super Bowl MVP the year you were born
The 28 people who will determine the outcome of Super Bowl LIII, ranked
The game is the least important part of the Super Bowl for viewers
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Total 1,175 respondents, a margin of error plus or minus 3 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.
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