President Donald Trump on stage with FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on December 5, 2025.
Jia Haocheng | Pool via Reuters
President Donald Trump made the World Cup one of the most visible political stages of his second term. But according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, American viewers of the tournament remained surprisingly bipartisan.
According to the survey, forty-nine percent of registered voters said they had watched at least part of the World Cup. This included 51% Democrats, 47% Republicans, and 47% independents.
““It’s one of the few things in the world that seems to be right now,” said Jay Campbell, a partner at Democratic polling firm Hart Research.
The poll found that the divide was equally narrow on other political grounds. 51 percent of voters see Kamala Harris supporting Kamala Harris in 2024, compared to 47 percent of Trump voters. Voters who approved or disapproved of Trump polled at nearly identical rates, 47% and 50%, respectively.
The four-point Democratic-Republican gap at the World Cup was less than the partisan divide over voters’ favorite sports. Republicans were 13 points more likely than Democrats to choose football, while Democrats generally had a seven-point advantage in football and basketball.
Only 8% of voters named soccer as their favorite sport, but 17% said they watched the World Cup “a lot” and an additional 32% said they watched “some”.
Micah Roberts, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, described the tournament as a place “where Democrats and Republicans agree.”
The survey asked about World Cup viewership and asked respondents to identify their favorite sport. The results showed that the tournament largely avoided the partisan sorting that had ingrained Trump into American culture.
Since returning to office, Trump has chaired the White House task force overseeing the World Cup. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has repeatedly appeared with him and FIFA opened offices in Trump Tower. Trump attended the World Cup draw held at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, where Trump’s name, which he added to the center, had to be removed following a recent court ruling.
According to Trump’s annual financial disclosures, Infantino also gave Trump 10 tickets worth $15,000 to last year’s Club World Cup final. Trump helped present the trophy and is expected to do so again on Sunday at the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
FIFA later awarded Trump its inaugural Peace Prize, prompting an investigation by European lawmakers and an ethics complaint accusing Infantino of violating FIFA’s political neutrality rules.
Trump’s involvement extended beyond the ceremonies.
After American striker Folarin Balogun received a red card, which automatically led to a one-match suspension, Trump called Infantino and asked him to review the call. FIFA put the suspension on probation, allowing Balogun to play in the next match against Belgium.
The US lost to Belgium 4–1 and were eliminated. European football’s governing body UEFA called FIFA’s reversal “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unfair”. FIFA said its disciplinary committee acted within the organization’s rules.
still, Controversy There was no impact on viewership. According to the All-America survey, half of MAGA Republicans watched, while 46% of non-MAGA Republicans watched.
The tournament’s international appeal also reached deep into Trump’s “America First” coalition. Among viewers, 88% said they watched matches that did not involve the US, including 82% of all Republicans and 86% of MAGA Republicans.
The sharpest divisions were economic and educational. 59 percent of voters earning at least $100,000 watched, compared to 31% of voters earning less than $30,000. Viewership among voters with a master’s degree reached 65%, but viewership among voters with a high school education or less fell to 40%. Those divisions may reflect access to pay television, on which millions of viewers watched World Cup games.
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey was conducted from July 8 to July 12 by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.