Poll Results: Where in the world is Raider Nation?

Last week I ran a poll asking Raider fans to share where in the world they represented the Silver and Black. The results were pretty amazing. So much so that it makes the term "Nation" seem like a small scope for just how far reaching the Raider faithful extend.

The poll yielded over 3000 votes with over 300 comments from fans around the country and around the world chiming in with where they cheer on the Raiders.

The poll itself yielded some interesting results.

The first thing is that the majority of Raider fans do not live in the state of California-- 56% to be exact.

Just 16% of the fans who responded live in or are from the Bay Area. If you add in the fans who live in other parts of California (25%), it jumps to 41%, which expectedly makes up the largest concentration of fans. What is a bit surprising is that is just 1% more than fans who live in states nowhere near California.

Then there is the business of the 6% of fans who live in California bordering states. Only one of those states has its own football team-- Arizona. But even in Arizona, the Raider fan contingency is extremely high. When I have attended games there, they rival the number of Cardinal fans in attendance. So either the Raider fans travel, or they are already there. My guess is a little bit of both.

But you don't need to go to another state to find another NFL team. And the fans across California could always choose to root for one of them instead. The Chargers for instance. If you were to take a picture of the crowd alone, it would be hard to tell you weren't actually in Oakland. The only difference being, in Oakland, there would be little to no blue and yellow in the crowd.

The Raider faithful is still strong in Southern California from the Raiders 13 years in Los Angeles. They take the opportunity the short trip to San Diego offers them to see the team they could at one time travel across town to see.

Traveling to the nearest stadium to where fans make their homes to see their Raiders play was a popular response. After all, I noted fans representing 38 different states across the country. They cross the four corners of America and everywhere in between. From Texas to Washington to Maine and New York and hitting nearly every state down the East Coast to Florida. Booking their tickets to see the Raiders play at the stadium nearest them is a near annual event for many of them.

But it doesn't stop with the United States. No, the Raider Nation is global. There were 17 different countries with fans staking their claim in the poll. All across Canada including Vancouver, Ontario, and Alberta. Then several locations across Mexico and Latin America and islands in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico.

Then we spin the globe with a high fan contingency in England as well as several European countries including France, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Over to Asia including Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

And, of course, there are fans down in Australia as well.

And that was just among the 300+ comments who were among the 3000+ who voted in the poll.

Here are those results again:

Anywhere outside of California: 56%

California and bordering states: 47%

States outside of California: 46%

California: 41%

States not near California: 40%

California but not in Bay Area: 25%

Oakland and Bay Area: 16%

Locations outside the U.S.: 10%

California bordering state: 6%

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did sharing your stories and your many locales across the world where you keep your torch burning for the Raiders. Hopefully a few connections were made between those who may not have known there were fellow Raider faithful in their backyard-- However far away that backyard may be from Oakland.

To see the "Where in the world..." poll as well as read the 300+ great comments, Click Here.

Follow me on Twitter @LeviDamien or befriend me on facebook.