The World Cup 2026 begins today and, according to a new poll, many Americans don't really care.
More than 4 in 10 American respondents to a new poll from Emerson College said they weren't interested in this year's tournament.
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The survey was conducted on June 7 and 8 — just days before the starting matches — and found that 45 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they had no interest in the event. A third of respondents said they had some interest, and 22 percent said they were very interested, The Hill reports.
Some Scottish fans who've traveled to Boston to watch World Cup matches told BBC News Scotland that some of the Americans they've met don't even know the tournament is happening.
One fan said he went to send a letter while wearing his Scotland jersey and the American woman working the counter asked him what had brought him to the states.
A pair of Americans walk past a display of World Cup jerseys in Santa Monica, California. More than 4 in 10 Americans said in a recent survey that they were not interested in the 2026 World Cup (Getty)"She didn't even know the World Cup is on," he said.
Another Scottish fan said that the “pubs are brilliant, but I don’t think anybody knows that there’s a World Cup on.”
The poll found that interest in the tournament also differs depending on the respondent's age. More than 70 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 29 said they were either very or somewhat interested in the World Cup, with 19 percent saying they were not interested at all.
Of people ages 60 to 69, 58 percent said they are not interested at all in the event, and only 11 percent said they were very interested.
The poll also found differing interest levels based on the race of the respondent. Sixty-three percent of Black respondents and six in 10 Hispanic respondents said they either planned to watch the World Cup somewhat or very closely. Only 35 percent of white respondents said they'd watch closely.