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On Flag Day, June 14th<\/sup>, the White House will host an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event titled UFC Freedom 250<\/em> Fan Fest <\/em>on the South Lawn featuring a temporary arena which will hold 4,300 spectators. At a May 8th<\/sup> press conference, UFC President Dana White promised that this card of seven men\u2019s matches will be a rousing success, stating it is an honor to appear on the White House grounds.<\/p>\n When polled, nearly half of Americans (46%) believe the UFC event on the White House South Lawn negatively affects the public image of the White House, while only 22 percent believe it positively affects its image. These numbers reflect a slight warming of public opinion from when the same question was asked in October 2025 (19% positive vs. 50% negative).<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a high risk and high reward event for UFC and the current administration,\u201d said Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management and the Seton Hall Sports Poll at the Seton Hall Stillman School of Business. \u201cWhile it shows the ascendancy of a sport once maligned by a United States Senator and Presidential candidate as \u2018human cockfighting,\u2019 it also raises divisions among followers of mixed martial arts and other sports that could also warrant an appearance at the nation\u2019s most well-known home.\u201d<\/p>\n These results are derived from a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted April 2nd<\/sup> through 9th<\/sup> among 1,601 adults. The Poll, which is sponsored by The Sharkey Institute within Seton Hall University\u2019s Stillman School of Business, features a national representative sample from YouGov Plc., weighted on U.S. Census Bureau figures for age, gender, ethnicity, education, income and geography with a margin of error of +\/-3.0 percent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How do UFC Fans Feel?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In contrast, 40 percent of self-described UFC fans believe the UFC event on the White House South Lawn positively affects the public image of the White House, while 29 percent believe it negatively affects its image. These numbers reflect a slight drop of UFC fan opinion from when the same question was asked in October 2025 (43% positive vs. 29% negative).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And the Event Itself? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Not surprisingly, there are differing views on the event itself with Americans more negative (25% positive vs. 44% negative) compared to self-described UFC fans (46% positive vs. 26% negative). Among Americans, positive views of the event rose 4 points since October 2025 while negative views dropped 5 points (21% positive vs. 49% negative). UFC fans remained relatively unchanged over this same time period (46% positive vs. 25% negative).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Along Political Lines<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a predictable difference in question response along political lines. UFC President Dana White is a supporter of President Donald J. Trump who hosted UFC events in his former Atlantic City hotels and invited White to speak at the Republican National Convention in 2024. The data shows self-described liberals skewed heavily negative, self-described moderates tend to be solidly negative, and self-described conservatives skewed much more neutral or positive.<\/p>\n Liberals<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In April 2026, liberals felt negatively about the image of the White House (66% negative vs. 14% positive), the image of the UFC (60% negative vs. 16% positive), and the event itself (68% negative vs. 16% positive). The only noticeable difference over the six months since October 2025 was that the image of the White House percentage fell 5 points from 71 percent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moderates<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In April 2026, exactly half of moderates (50% negative vs. 22% positive) felt the event negatively impacts the image of the White House. Moderates have softened their views since October 2025 on whether event impacts the image of the White House with a 4-point positive increase along with a 2-point drop in negative views (52% negative vs. 18% positive). In terms of the public image of the UFC, moderates are more neutral with 27 percent positive and 38 percent negative views. Since October 2025, moderates show a 3-point increase in positive views along with a 2-point increase in negative views (24% positive vs. 36% negative). Nearly half of moderates (47% negative vs. 23% positive) have a negative view of the event itself. Moderates have also softened their views since October 2025 of the event itself, with a 2-point increase in positive views along with a 3-point drop in negative views (50% negative vs. 21% positive).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Conservatives <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Conservatives have shifted the most since October 2025 as their support increased across the board. In April 2026, 36 percent felt that the event had a positive impact (22% negative) on the White House image, up 5 points from October 2025 (31% positive vs. 30% negative). When examining the impact on UFC\u2019s image in April 2026, conservatives were 37 percent positive vs. 13 percent negative, compared to October 2025\u2019s 36 percent positive vs. 18 percent negative (5 points more negative). Finally, 41 percent of conservatives felt positively about the event itself, a nine-point increase from October 2025 (32%) while negative opinions fell from 30 percent in October 2025 to 18 percent in April 2025.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/sportspoll\/files\/2026\/06\/ufc-politics-release-graphic-2-819x1024.jpg\")
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