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How Much Did / Does Donald Trump Have To Do With Popularity Of Womens World Cup Champions? (1 Viewer)

How Much Did "Showing Up" or "Sticking It To" Trump Have To Do With Popularity Of Women's World Cup

  • "Showing Up" or "Sticking It To" Trump had a lot to do with their popularity

    Votes: 4 4.9%

  • "Showing Up" or "Sticking It To" Trump had a good bit to do with their popularity

    Votes: 5 6.1%

  • "Showing Up" or "Sticking It To" Trump had a little bit to do with their popularity

    Votes: 20 24.4%

  • "Showing Up" or "Sticking It To" Trump had basically nothing to do with their popularity

    Votes: 53 64.6%
  • Total voters
    82
Joe Bryant

Joe Bryant

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Staff member
Had this discussion with a friend today. 

Wondering what you thought here.

The theory is some part of the enthusiasm and popularity of the Women's World Cup Champions is due to Donald Trump. That there is some element of "showing up" or "sticking it to" Trump with them winning. 

Do you think this has any factor? If so, how much? 

 
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Voted a little bit.  I"m sure there are a few that became soccer fans or Rapinoe fans (I think Tim admitted he did) because of Trump.  But overall, it feels like everyone but the die-hard soccer fans have moved on and the World Cup is ancient history.

 
I would say it had almost zero effect during the world cup. Probably mild effect in keeping stories going after world cup. Hard to compare viewership from 2015 to now. 25 million watched then final compared to 14 this time, but time difference plays a big part. 

 
Voted "a good bit" although I'm not really sure where the line is a good bit and a little bit.

But anyone voting "a lot" or "basically nothing" is kidding themselves.

 
Zero for me.  In fact, I was extremely disappointed when I read an article about Rapinoe kneeling/protesting the anthem before the Trump tweets.  I loved cheering for the U.S. women before and after I read that though.  However, I found myself not cheering for Rapinoe at all.

 
Murph said:
Voted "a good bit" although I'm not really sure where the line is a good bit and a little bit.

But anyone voting "a lot" or "basically nothing" is kidding themselves.
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Hold up....I've been a diehard of the USWNT for decades.  I made our family leave a camping trip early so we could watch the final match in a brew pub on Mt. Hood in 2011, watched the final vs Japan in 2015 in a packed bar with other USWNT zealots days after my twins were born and watched every second of every game the USWNT played this tournament.  I wore a USA "I Play Like a Girl" t-shirt for every match they played on Fathers' Day and beyond and refused to wash it until they won it all.  So my fandom has absolutely nothing to do with Trump; I was rooting this team on regardless of the president and can't fathom becoming a fan just because some of the players dislike him.  

There's players in other sports that do like Trump.  I don't root against those players because of it.  So I voted accordingly and am not kidding myself at all.  I am was and always will be a fan of USWNT.  And gun to my head, I couldn't name more than 1 maybe 2 players on the Men's team.  Altidore, Bradley and....????

 
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General Malaise said:
Hold up....I've been a diehard of the USWNT for decades.  I made our family leave a camping trip early so we could watch the final match in a brew pub on Mt. Hood in 2011, watched the final vs Japan in 2015 in a packed bar with other USWNT zealots days after my twins were born and watched every second of every game the USWNT played this tournament.  I wore a USA "I Play Like a Girl" t-shirt for every match they played on Fathers' Day and beyond and refused to wash it until they won it all.  So my fandom has absolutely nothing to do with Trump; I was rooting this team on regardless of the president and can't fathom becoming a fan just because some of the players dislike him.  

There's players in other sports that do like Trump.  I don't root against those players because of it.  So I voted accordingly and am not kidding myself at all.  I am was and always will be a fan of USWNT.  And gun to my head, I couldn't name more than 1 maybe 2 players on the Men's team.  Altidore, Bradley and....????
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Maybe I misunderstood the question. I thought we were assessing their national popularity.

If we were voting as individuals then I change my vote to Not At All. I didn't care about the USWNT 4 years ago, and I still don't now.

 
I've followed the women's soccer team for decades, so obviously Trump has nothing to do with it.  Most of my friends have as well, so same answer.

Did some become aware of it because of Trump who had otherwise not been aware of it?  I'm sure that's the case, but that was unlikely to affect its popularity.  Maybe a short term interest spike to a small degree, but on any meaningful scale Trump has had no impact.

 
The world cup is an achievement and they earned all the kudos.

I'm sure the popularity increased with Trump's involvement, as would anything where a President of the US comments on it.   So did he have some impact,  I think so.

However now I am getting a little burned out.  Nice job ladies, you deserve a lot of credit, but I've moved on

 
Seems to me that the USWNT was just as popular this year as they were during previous World Cups. I didn't get a sense that they were being artificially propped up by the anti-Trump crowd.

 
I don't think the sport/World Cup matches got much more popular because of the Trump/Womens Team situation.  

This situation is too intricately tied into the Trump v. Women/Womens Rights and Trump v. (what he and his supporters feel to be) Uppity Sports Figures Who Should Stay Out Of The Political Spectrum, Play Their Games And Remember Who Pays Their Salaries to really merit being a separate issue...... but team probably got a small bump in political street cred because of it.

 
PhantomJB said:
Absolutely none. After the classless 13-0 rout and Rapinoe anthem protest I boycotted the entire tournament and related stories.
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If you actually believe this you must not know anything about World Cup soccer or you're just going out of your way to be obtuse.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
This never occurred to me. Where is this idea coming from? Did someone claim this?
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Nobody I know claimed it. Was more an observation. I saw a conservative person I know sharing the criticizing Rapinoe angle. And I saw a liberal person I know sharing the Rapinoe is the hero we need angle. And we wondered if Trump had much, if any, to do with the popularity. It's an unknowable thing. Just thought it was interesting. 

 
PhantomJB said:
Absolutely none. After the classless 13-0 rout 
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I understand the complaint about excessive celebration -- I don't care personally, but it's a reasonable objection.  But the structure of international group-stage play makes it mandatory to run up the score if the other team lets you.  Goal difference can be extremely important in a three-game round robin. 

 
I voted a little just because that story got a lot of attention and might have clued a few more people into the event. I don't think anyone was tuning in as some kind of message against the President though. 

 
It's hard to draw comparisons because of start times and non-inhome viewing, but 2019 tv ratings in the US were down by something close to 40% from the 2015 Final. Maybe we should be asking if the president is damaging yet another industry with his involvement.

 
I didn't even know there was a political angle here.  What is it exactly?  (I think I might regret asking that question)  I watched the women's world cup because they kick ### and are really fun to watch.  That's saying a lot coming from a guy who generally doesn't watch soccer.  Any time I find them on TV I stop and watch.

 
The Commish said:
I didn't even know there was a political angle here.  What is it exactly?  (I think I might regret asking that question)  I watched the women's world cup because they kick ### and are really fun to watch.  That's saying a lot coming from a guy who generally doesn't watch soccer.  Any time I find them on TV I stop and watch.
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Rapinoe knelt for the anthem in the past.  In the World Cup she didn't sing along with the anthem or something.  Trump made another one of his stupid comments towards her and she said she would not go to the WH if they were invited.  After they won the World Cup one of the other players dropped the flag and Rapinoe almost stepped on it accidentally but Trump supporters tried to say that Rapinoe dropped it and then she stomped on it because she hates America.  I think I summed most of it up.

 
I voted a little bit.  Was good to see them win.  You know if they lost Trump would've been on a twitter roll blaming it on Rapinoe.  Also thought her speech was pretty good, laying out that we can all be better towards each other, didn't gloat or rub it in.

 
Hawkeye21 said:
The Commish said:
I didn't even know there was a political angle here.  What is it exactly?  (I think I might regret asking that question)  I watched the women's world cup because they kick ### and are really fun to watch.  That's saying a lot coming from a guy who generally doesn't watch soccer.  Any time I find them on TV I stop and watch.
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Rapinoe knelt for the anthem in the past.  In the World Cup she didn't sing along with the anthem or something.  Trump made another one of his stupid comments towards her and she said she would not go to the WH if they were invited.  After they won the World Cup one of the other players dropped the flag and Rapinoe almost stepped on it accidentally but Trump supporters tried to say that Rapinoe dropped it and then she stomped on it because she hates America.  I think I summed most of it up
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Oh God :lmao:  

Trust your gut Commish....trust your gut.

 
PhantomJB said:
Absolutely none. After the classless 13-0 rout and Rapinoe anthem protest I boycotted the entire tournament and related stories.
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Hawkeye21 said:
If you actually believe this you must not know anything about World Cup soccer or you're just going out of your way to be obtuse.
Click to expand...
For you and the other English language-challenged posters, classless is an adjective. It describes the manner in which the rout occurred. I said nothing about actually scoring 13 goals in the context of World Cup rules being inappropriate. 

- Rapinoe pirouetting after making it 9-0

- Morgan counting goals on her fingers at 10-0

- Players doing leg kicks on the sideline after leading by double digits

They need to take some lessons from Coco and Serena's performances at Wimbledon. Now that's class.

 
I think it has little to do with their popularity, because it would have existed to largely the same extent regardless.  More some even like them more, but would have liked them anyway.

It probably exponentially increased the tweets and whatnot.

 
supermike80 said:
I'm sure the popularity increased with Trump's involvement, as would anything where a President of the US comments on it.
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Wouldn't this work both ways?  Some people who had no interest became interested as a result of the president's comments, but at the same time some with interest were turned off?

I kind of think that neither happened in any appreciable amount though, but :shrug:  

 
PhantomJB said:
For you and the other English language-challenged posters, classless is an adjective. It describes the manner in which the rout occurred. I said nothing about actually scoring 13 goals in the context of World Cup rules being inappropriate. 

- Rapinoe pirouetting after making it 9-0

- Morgan counting goals on her fingers at 10-0

- Players doing leg kicks on the sideline after leading by double digits

They need to take some lessons from Coco and Serena's performances at Wimbledon. Now that's class.
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If you have an issue with their celebrating once being up that much I can understand your opinion more.  I didn't think it was that big of a deal though.  I played a lot of sports and when you're rolling like that you're having a lot of fun and not thinking much about what others think of you.  Not a great excuse, I know.  I've always preferred to be humble and be a good sport.  I always enjoyed acknowledging when an opposing player did something well.

 
Hawkeye21 said:
If you have an issue with their celebrating once being up that much I can understand your opinion more.  I didn't think it was that big of a deal though.  I played a lot of sports and when you're rolling like that you're having a lot of fun and not thinking much about what others think of you.  Not a great excuse, I know.  I've always preferred to be humble and be a good sport.  I always enjoyed acknowledging when an opposing player did something well.
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It's cool. I've always thought of our national sports teams as ambassadors. I played ball in the military and we were frequently in similar game situations vs. Asian teams so maybe more sensitive than most (not that I was always the model citizen either). But if they can protest hopefully I can also boycott for my own reasons.

 
PhantomJB said:
It's cool. I've always thought of our national sports teams as ambassadors. I played ball in the military and we were frequently in similar game situations vs. Asian teams so maybe more sensitive than most (not that I was always the model citizen either). But if they can protest hopefully I can also boycott for my own reasons.
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Of course anyone can boycott, I just find it silly to do so a lot of the time.

 
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