By Richard Lee

When it comes to politics, New Yorkers mirror national patterns, differing on most public policy issues.

But when the topic is baseball, the state’s residents are in agreement.

According to a March 28 Siena Research Institute poll, nearly twice as many respondents (40%) identified as Yankees fans than Mets fans (21%). Seven percent were fans of other teams, and 29% were not fans of any team.

“New Yorkers prefer pinstripes,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.

The breakdown was fairly consistent among baseball fans in most demographic groups.

For example, the survey showed that 44% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans were Yankee fans, and 42% of the men polled and 37% of the women also favored the Bronx Bombers.

By contrast, 22% of the Democrats were Met fans, and 24% of the Republicans were fans of the Yankees. In the gender breakdown, 26% of the men and 18% of the women were fans of the Mets.

The percentages were similar among white and Black voters; 38% of the white respondents and 44% of the Black respondents were Yankee fans. The Mets were the favorite team of 23% of the white respondents and 17% of the Black respondents

But the Yankees had a significantly larger amount of fans among Latinos (61%) compared with 13% for the Mets.

The respondents also gave the Yankees greater odds of reaching the World Series.

“When it comes to playing October baseball and making it to the series, 45% think the Yankees have the better chance to make it, 19% say the Mets, 6% see a Subway Series possibility, and 7% say wait till next year before you see a New York team make the series,” Greenberg said.

The baseball questions were part of a larger poll on state, national and international topics. Click here to view the complete poll.

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