As March Madness tournaments begin, the latest Elon University Poll found that many in the state are looking forward to both the men’s and women’s competition.
As this year’s NCAA Division I basketball tournaments get underway, a new survey conducted March 3-11, 2025, by the Elon University Poll measures North Carolina’s relative interest in the men’s and women’s brackets.
Rivalries between North Carolina’s ACC basketball teams are legendary in the sports world. Yet, no matter how the tournaments play out, North Carolinians tend to be loyal to teams from their home state. If their favorite North Carolina team is eliminated in tournament rounds, North Carolinians are 7 to 1 in cheering for remaining NC teams. When their own favorite team is eliminated, 36% cheer for and only 5% against their in-state rivals while 21% say they “don’t care” and 38% report not having a favorite team.
According to Nielsen and the New York Times, the national TV viewership for last year’s women’s tournament finals was 18.9 million viewers, compared with 14.8 million viewers for the men’s finals. That was a major jump in interest in the women’s tournament from previous years.
Half of North Carolina adults expressed an interest in this year’s tournaments, with 27% saying they are more interested in the men’s tournament, 17% equally interested in both the men’s and women’s tournaments and 7% saying they are more interested in the women’s tournament.
- Among women, 19% said they are more interested in the men’s tournament, 13% said they are equally interested in both tournaments and just 6% said they are more interested in the women’s tournament.
- Among men, 35% said they are more interested in the men’s tournament, 21% said they are equally interested in both tournaments and 7% said they are more interested in the women’s tournament.
Overall, men (63%) are far more interested in the tournaments than women (38%). The other big difference is on the political spectrum; 54% of both Democrats and Republicans said they are interested in the tournaments, but only 38% of those who consider themselves independents expressed an interest in the tournaments. Income also was associated with the people’s interest in the tournament.
The lower someone’s family income, the less interested they are in either the men’s or the women’s tournament: 58% of those making less than $50,000 a year showed no interest in either tournament, compared with 48% of those making between $50,000 and $100,000, and 35% of those making more than $100,000.
There are five North Carolina teams among the 68 teams in this year’s women’s tournament, including Duke, North Carolina State, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro and High Point. There are four North Carolina teams among the 68 teams in the men’s tournament, including Duke, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill and High Point.
Team favorites
In declaring favorites among in-state Atlantic Coast Conference men’s teams, not all of which were selected for this year’s NCAA tournament:
- 37% say they are fans of UNC-Chapel Hill
- 31% are fans of North Carolina State University
- 26% are fans of the Duke University
- 17% are fans of the Wake Forest University
Note: Figures add up to more than 100% because poll respondents were allowed to say they are fans of more than one team.
Poll Methodology
Access the poll topline and methodology at www.elon.edu/elonpoll.
The survey was constructed by the Elon University Poll in partnership with McClatchy and fielded by the international marketing and polling firm YOUGOV as an online, webbased survey, self-administered with online panels. Between March 3 and March 11, YouGov interviewed 1,050 North Carolina adults aged 18 and older. These respondents were then matched down to a sample of 800 to produce the final dataset. The margin of error for this poll (adjusted for weights) is +/-4.04%.