Its from a PR/market research outfit that does survey work for the pro sports industry. Apparently, some people are willing to spend lots of money to find out about the connections between sport and political preferences. These people are connected to the Neilsen TV ratings outfit.

Scarborough Sports Marketing is the Sports division of the overall brand of Scarborough. This division measures purchasing habits of sports fans for teams, leagues, marketers and media professionals. The data gathered by Scarborough is used by clients to learn more about and assist with corporate sponsorships, fan development, merchandising, promotion, competitive information, ticket sales, marketing, media selling, media placement and schedules. Scarborough’s studies are used to determine information on local and national markets throughout the United States.

--WIKI

I find it amazing that Americans, who find government interference and snooping in individual people's lives for political purposes intolerable, would consider use of the exact same techniques and technologies on whole populations for commercial purposes as perfectly kosher.

Market research was already well established and highly influential in the US by the 1950s, I've often wondered if this is what Asimov really had in mind when he wrote about psycho- history in the Foundation Trilogy. "Mules" and stochastics may make predicting history impossible, but as market animals, we are easily predictable, and vulnerable. After all, you don't have to be successful with every product all the time, just often enough to be profitable in the long run.

And if markets are predictable, then they can be manipulated. How do you reconcile that with economic free markets and Adam Smith capitalism? Again, its not the occasional failure that really matters, its the overall predominance of successes.