College basketball’s most exciting few weeks are upon us and soon one team will reign as the 2013 national champions. CivicScience has polled over 15,000 people in the past month on topics related to March Madness, from their general interest level to whether they are filling out brackets for pools.

Many of the people polled were looking forward to March Madness more than any other spring sporting event. When taking out the people who answered “I don’t care about any of these,” a notable plurality of 36% chose March Madness. People were 56% more likely to choose March Madness over the second highest event, the opening day of baseball.

We were also interested to see how many people would be involved in a March Madness bracket pool.

Approximately 25% of US citizens will be involved in a bracket pool, while 56% of those people have placed bets on their bracket. So who will be participating in a bracket pool?

  • Men are twice as likely as women to be involved in a bracket pool for money.
  • People with a High School education answered “No, I will not have a bracket” more than those with a College or Advanced Degree.
  • 24% of people earning over $150,000 will be involved in a bracket for money.
  • 23% of people aged 25-34 will be involved in a bracket for money.

Finally, the chart below shows how many people have been following the games so far:

When compared to people who are not closely following the NCAA March Madness, people who are following the games are:

  • 40% more likely to be male
  • 33% more likely to be Black
  • 14% less likely to live in a rural area
  • 44% more likely to have an income above $75,000
  • 33% more likely to have at least a bachelor’s degree
  • 10% more likely to be married
  • Twice as likely to follow the NFL very closely
  • Almost 5X as likely to watch sports on TV regularly
  • 44% more likely to go to the movies on a regular basis
  • 20% more likely to exercise regularly
  • 29% more likely to watch CBS most often (among broadcast networks)
  • 53% more likely to watch CNN most often for cable news
  • 42% more likely to describe the state of the US economy as “good”
  • 19% more likely to describe their own personal financial situation as “good”
  • 24% more likely to be concerned about gas and energy prices
  • 30% more likely to use Twitter
  • 19% more likely to use a smartphone
  • 17% more likely to be Verizon subscribers

Have a great week, and enjoy the games.