Social Identity Can be a Team Game: Social Identity and Other Factors that Widen and Bridge Partisan Gaps in Political Perceptions of Sports Media Topics

Josh T. L, Yara Acaf, Leonard Memon, Xiaotong Liu, Nicole Butterbaugh, Chris Imbrogno, Jingyue Tao, Natalie Brown-Devlin, School of Journalism, University of Arizona, School of Arts, and Social Sciences, Saint Vincent College, Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas at Austin, School of Journalism and Strategic Media, University of Arkansas, School of Advertising and Public Relations, University of Texas at Austin

Communication & Sport

Published online on October 03, 2025

Abstract

Communication & Sport, Ahead of Print.
Sport and politics are often intertwined, as political and social issues “play out” during a game. Not all sports media consumers may read the same news topics as political, however. By analyzing data from three years of cross-sectional surveys of sports ...