Random Baseball Trivia
According to researchers Christopher Zorn and Jeff Gill, baseball fans are far more likely to embrace the designated hitter (DH) if they are Democrats:"Most important, and consistent with our expectations, we find that self-identified Democratic Party members are more likely to support the DH rule than are either independents or Republicans; the odds ratio of 1.90 suggests that, on average, Democrats are 90 percent more likely to support the rule than are independents. This implies (we think) that the values that draw the respondents to the Democrats are linked to those associated with supporting the rule. At the same time, the reverse is not true: Republicans are no more or less likely to support the DH rule than are political independents.
Their explanation for this finding makes intuitive sense."
As Zorn and Gill explain, the DH is arguably the greatest rules change in the history of baseball -- and Democrats are more accepting of "socio-political" changes.
posted by E @4:55 PM