Americans’ attitudes towards the U.S. women’s national soccer team

The United States Women’s National Soccer Team has been the recent subject of public celebration and critique, reflecting responses to the team’s competitive successes and activist efforts amid heightened political polarization in the U.S. Yet while studies have considered fandom of the team or trends in media, no research has examined patterns of public attitude towards the USWNT. We use data from a 2023 national survey of U.S. adults (N = 2,032) to examine public attitudes and their demographic predictors, positioning patterns in context of the cultural and political environment in professional sport. Findings show moderately positive views of the team, with just over half of respondents agreeing that they view the team positively and feel positively about team players as role models. Gender, education, and political orientation predict attitudes in regression models, with men, those with lower levels of education, and political conservatives holding more negative attitudes.