CrossPolitic Studios

This is Toby Sumpter with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Friday, September 11, 2020. Today you will hear about a new Gallup poll that shows professional sports tanking, a study of college campus Covid cases finds zero hospitalizations, Michigan Gov. Gretchin Whitmer can’t get out of the news, was the Belarusian President offered a COVID bribe?, and we close with thoughts on the 19th anniversary of 9-11. Remember: If you come across a news story you think we might need to cover, please send it to: news at crosspolitic dot com. This is a great way to share articles and stores with us that may end up in our daily or weekly shows: news at crosspolitic dot com https://news.gallup.com/poll/319256/farming-rises-sports-tumbles-industry-ratings.aspx A new Gallup poll is out September 8, and things ain’t looking good for sports. WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time in Gallup’s 20 years of tracking Americans’ views of various business and industry sectors, farming and agriculture is the clear leader. The former top-ranking industries — restaurants and computers — remain in the top four, with the grocery industry rounding out the group. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry’s image has improved modestly since last year, and it has yielded the “worst rated” distinction back to the federal government. This year’s rankings reflect significant changes in the ratings of six industries, three of which are delivering vital goods and services to Americans during the pandemic. These three — healthcare, farming and pharmaceuticals — are all rated more positively this year than in 2019, although where they rank on the list differs. Farming and agriculture was already among the top-rated industries before 2020, but it has now moved to No. 1 with a 69% positive rating — an 11-percentage-point increase. With a 13-point increase to 51%, the healthcare industry has advanced from the third-lowest-ranked industry to near the middle of the pack. This is the first time in the 20 years of Gallup measurement that a majority of Americans have rated healthcare positively. The latest reading mirrors the increase in Americans’ confidence in the medical system that Gallup found earlier this year. The pharmaceutical industry’s positive rating has increased seven points to 34%. The industry is now the second-lowest-rated on a net (positive minus negative rating) basis. Additionally, the internet industry has seen a six-point increase in its positive rating to 49%. It still lags behind the computer industry (at 56%), but the gap is narrower than usual. Rather than engendering sympathy from Americans, the travel industry, which has been decimated by social distancing requirements, as well as by people’s reluctance to fly and stay in hotels, has seen its positive rating slip 11 points to 41%. The biggest slide, however, has been for the sports industry, with its positive score falling 15 points — from 45% to 30%. The sports industry now has a negative image, on balance, among Americans as a whole, with 30% viewing it positively and 40% negatively, for a -10 net-positive score. This contrasts with the +20 net positive image it enjoyed in 2019, when 45% viewed it positively and 25% negatively. This slide in the sports industry’s image comes as professional and college leagues are struggling, and not always successfully, to maintain regular schedules and playing seasons amid the pandemic. Professional football, baseball and basketball games have also become focal points for public displays of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. While it’s not clear how much the various challenges and controversies swirling around the industry are each responsible for its slide in popularity, it is notable that sports has lost more support from Republicans and independents than from Democrats. In fact, Democrats’ view of the sports industry has not changed significantly in the past year, while Republicans’ has slipped from [...]