Soccer's appeal is mainly to the pro-decline crowd

Bernard Goldberg writing at NRO examines a recent discussion between Peter Beinart and Fareed Zakaria about the World Cup and soccer generally:

Mr. Beinart was with Fareed Zakaria on CNN the other day and had a lot to say about how soccer just might save America — from its narrow-minded, insular self.

Soccer fans in America, he said, show us that “we have a less nativist sports culture and we’re more open — at least some groups in the United States — young people, immigrants, political liberals — are more open to liking the same kinds of things that people in other countries do. Things don’t have to be ours and ours alone.”

Part of the attraction of soccer, Mr. Zakaria says, is that we’re sharing the sport with the rest of the world; we’re following something the rest of the world is following. Yes, Professor Beinart says, but it’s much more than that. Younger Americans, who like soccer more than older Americans, “are far less likely than older Americans to say that American culture is superior or to say that America is the greatest country in the world.”

In case you were wondering, this is a good thing to Mr. Beinart, and I suspect many other liberals. Because “it reflects a more cosmopolitan temperament, more of a recognition that America has things to learn from the rest of the world, and that in fact maybe we have to learn from the rest of the world if we’re going to remain a successful country.”

After taking that in, Mr. Zakaria observes that soccer fans in the United States look a lot like the Obama coalition. To which Beinart replied: “That’s exactly right, and if you look at the states where soccer is most popular, they’re overwhelmingly blue states and the states where soccer is least popular are red states.”

This gets me to thinking about some findings in a recent Pew study discussed in Byron York's Townhall column today:

According to Pew, solid liberals make up about 17 percent of registered voters. Most (69 percent) are white. They are "highly educated and affluent," according to the survey. They are the most loyal Democrats of all groups and "unflagging supporters of Barack Obama."

Solid liberals are more urban than other groups, more likely to use public transportation, more likely to recycle. They're the most likely to say they want to live close to museums and theaters, and the least likely to hunt or fish.

And they think America needs to be taken down a peg on the world stage - to make room for jihadists and practitioners of genital mutilation, I suppose.