President Donald Trump on stage with FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, in Washington, Dis. 5, 2025.
Jia Haocheng Poole via Reuters
President Donald Trump has made the World Cup one of the most visible political stages of his second term. But the tournament’s US audience remained divided, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
49% of registered voters said they watched at least some of the World Cup, according to the survey. That includes 51% of Democrats, 47% of Republicans and 47% of independents.
“It breaks down partisanship, which is one of the few things in the world that seems to be the case right now,” said Jay Campbell, a partner at Democratic polling firm Hart Research, which conducted the study along with Republican Public Opinion Strategies.
The divide was equally narrow along other political lines, the study found. Fifty-one percent of voters support Kamala Harris in 2024, compared to 47% of Trump voters. Voters who approved or disapproved of Trump sang at nearly identical rates, 47% and 50%, respectively.
The four-point Democratic-Republican world cup gap was narrower than the partisan divide on voters’ favorite sports. Republicans were 13 more likely than Democrats to choose football, while Democrats held seven-point advantages in football in general and basketball.
Only 8% of voters named soccer as their favorite sport, but 17% said they watched “a lot” of the World Cup and another 32% said they watched “some.”
Micah Roberts, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, described the race as “where Democrats and Republicans come together.”
The survey asked about World Cup viewership and asked respondents to identify their favorite sport. The results suggest that the contest largely avoided the partisanship that followed Trump in much of America’s culture.
Since returning to office, Trump has been the chairman of the White House team responsible for the World Cup. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has made several appearances as well, and FIFA opened offices in Trump Tower. Trump attended the World Cup tournament, which was held at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, where Trump’s name, which he put in the center, had to be removed after the court’s decision.
Infantino also gave Trump 10 tickets worth $15,000 to last year’s Club World Cup final, according to Trump’s annual financial disclosure. Trump helped present the trophy and is expected to do this again on Sunday at the World Cup finals to be held at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey.
FIFA later awarded Trump its first Peace Prize, drawing scrutiny from European lawmakers and an ethics complaint accusing Infantino of violating FIFA’s rules of political neutrality.
Trump’s involvement also extended beyond events.
After American forward Folarin Balogun received a red card, which led to a one-game suspension, Trump called Infantino and asked him to review the call. FIFA suspended his trial suspension, allowing Balogun to play in the next match, against Belgium.
The US lost 4-1 to Belgium and were eliminated. UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, called FIFA’s reform “unprecedented, incomprehensible and inexcusable.” FIFA said its disciplinary committee operates under the federation’s rules.
However, the controversy did not discourage viewers. Half of MAGA Republicans watched, compared to 46% of non-MAGA Republicans, according to the All-America survey.
The international appeal of the tournament also reached deep into Trump’s “America First” coalition. Among viewers, 88% said they watched non-US sports, including 82% of all Republicans and 86% of MAGA Republicans.
The biggest differences were economic and educational. Fifty-nine percent of voters earning at least $100,000 watched, compared to 31% of those earning less than $30,000. Viewership reached 65% among voters with a college degree but fell to 40% among those with a high school education or less. That division may reflect access to pay television, where millions of viewers watch World Cup games.
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey was conducted July 8 through July 12 by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters across the country and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
