LeBron James is the most popular male athlete in America

[tomtucker]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11...r-male-athlete

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guess people are at a all time low, IQ wise.........

[navy]

Well when you have fans and haters talking about you all the time, it really isnt that hard.

[kennethgriffin]

kobe in the top 5 is a shocker

half the fans in america despise him and hes way past his prime

[Trollsmasher]

big sample size

[choppermagic]

So they took a poll of only 2241 people out of a country with 313 million people, during a time when Lebron was at the height of his media frenzy of his Free Agency and in the sports news almost daily, and declared him the most popular make athlete in America?

Horrible polling. They can run this again right after the Superbowl and all of a sudden, a football player will be No. 1. Or during the Olympics and an Olympian would be No. 1, etc.

[navy]

So they took a poll of only 2241 people out of a country with 313 million people, during a time when Lebron was at the height of his media frenzy of his Free Agency and in the sports news almost daily, and declared him the most popular make athlete in America?

Horrible polling. They can run this again right after the Superbowl and all of a sudden, a football player will be No. 1. Or during the Olympics and an Olympian would be No. 1, etc.

2000 people is fine if it is representative enough. Some of you guys need to take a statistics class.

[choppermagic]

2000 people is fine if it is representative enough. Some of you guys need to take a statistics class.

I've taken plenty of stats classes. And I know how easy it is to skew results to whatever you feel like it. That is still a very low number to declare something like "in America". ESPN polls carry much more responses that that thing. Read the rest of my answer, too. The timing of it stinks. How did they account for current media mentions at the time of the poll?

[navy]

I've taken plenty of stats classes. And I know how easy it is to skew results to whatever you feel like it. That is still a very low number to declare something like "in America". ESPN polls carry much more responses that that thing. Read the rest of my answer, too. The timing of it stinks. How did they account for current media mentions at the time of the poll?

It really isnt that low at all. It is fine if it is actually representative, which the article claims. That should be where people take intrigue, not the number sampled.

The timing is definitely bad, but as the article said he was number 2 last year. Not really a huge jump.

[FKAri]

So they took a poll of only 2241 people out of a country with 313 million people, during a time when Lebron was at the height of his media frenzy of his Free Agency and in the sports news almost daily, and declared him the most popular make athlete in America?

They say Lebron wasn't in the top 10 in 2011 because of the decision...so I don't think I understand if this is indicating popularity as much as favorable popularity.

[Le Shaqtus]

kobe in the top 5 is a shocker

half the fans in america despise him and hes way past his prime

It's hard to be relevant when you're not playing :/

[Roundball_Rock]

2000 people is fine if it is representative enough. Some of you guys need to take a statistics class.

Yeah it definitely is. Moreover, polling firms weight their samples to reflect the population. What Harris did in this case is industry standard.

It is interesting this is LeBron's first year in first place and that he overtook MJ...

It was a long road for James to get to the top. In 2011, the year after his "Decision" to go to Miami, James fell completely out of the top 10.

James was most popular among the 18-36 and 49-67 age demographics, while the poll reflected that Generatrion Xers (37-48) preferred Jordan.

Kobe tying Earnhardt Jr. shows how large a following Kobe still has.

[TylerOO]

I've taken plenty of stats classes. And I know how easy it is to skew results to whatever you feel like it. That is still a very low number to declare something like "in America". ESPN polls carry much more responses that that thing. Read the rest of my answer, too. The timing of it stinks. How did they account for current media mentions at the time of the poll?

LeBron is the most popular athlete by far. Who do you think is?

[Dave3]

kobe in the top 5 is a shocker

half the fans in america despise him and hes way past his prime

Just in case you were interested, Jordan was the most popular (ie. #1) until 2005, a couple years after retiring, and 7 years after last being "Jordan" so popularity in these polls doesn't seem to be "what have you done for me lately?"

I'm not compaing Kobe to Jordan, I'm saying popularity doesn't change as quickly as a guy's career direction. Hell, among certain demographics, Jordan is still the most popular guy in 2014.

[chosen_one6]

Polls are a bunch of horsesh*t. I understand how sample sizes work but there's no way 1000-2000 people's opinions echo the other millions in the US.

[Mass Debator]