I know some of you made this distinction but others might miss it, so I wanted to point it out for the sake of clarity.

This poll shows:
- Percentage of Wii owners who use the Wii Vote channel and have Widescreen TV(s)
- Percentage of Wii owners who use the Wii Vote channel and do not have Widescreen TV(s)

This poll does not show:
- How many wii owners have HD capable TVs
- Current HDTV adoption rate of Wii owners
- Current HDTV adoption rate of the general public

In summary it should not be too surprising that people who are into technology and gaming are more apt to have nicer TVs etc...So it should also not be surprising that amongst a demographic with interests in technology we would see a higher HDTV adoption rate than the general public.

PS - This wasn't addressed at anyone specifically, I just wanted to point it out before someone tried to connect dots that aren't there.

Hey HappySquirrel, that's some crazy-ass rent! I also live in Calgary but managed to scrape together the money for a townhouse just a month or two before prices went insane.

I tend to agree...I know one person with a fancy TV, and I will buy one when my 20-year-old CRT breaks, but yeah, most people my age around here seem to have pretty standard used stuff...even my movie-phile friends.

@HappySqurriel: When you move out on your own (well i did move in with my, that time girlfriend, today my wife), you have to buy some furniture. Beds, sofas, TV:s, DVD:s etc. Since the widescreen TV:s fit the same pricerange with 4:3, you propably look a bit further in the future (my 28" widesceen was a bit less than 500 Euros, when 4:3 TV, that would have fit for my needs was about 420). I don't personally know anyone, who would have bought 4:3 TV, after moving on their own after 2000 (well bigger than 20"). Of course, it changes regionally.
And by "kids" i was meaning kids, who live with their parents, and have their own room with small TV.

@Sqrl: You're right. But that wasn't the thing that surprised me.
The thing what made me surprised was, that the people who have their Wiis online, propably are people who are more interested or more aware in technology than the average. And this group, which is above the average, is the group, which, in bigger propability than others, have widescreen TV.

2000?
2000?!?!?

In 2000 to about 2003/2004 the only widescreen TVs that were really available were high end TVs ... The Sony Wega was the widescreen CRT of choice and off brand wide-screen CRT TVs did not really show up until the main brands started to dramatically lower their CRT offerings. After that the occasional off-brand LCD-EDTV would show up at about $1000 and be widescreen; it wasn't until about 2005 that you really started to see well known companies offer widescreen TVs that were affordable.

My world view may be warped but I have always seen the standard approach to buying a TV by most people was to choose the largest TV that was in their price range; most people who just moved out would likely pick a TV that was under $500 which would have (up until recently) given them a 27 to 34 inch 4:3 CRT or a 20 inch (or smaler) 16:9 LCD EDTV.

I'm still on a 32" Sony Wega Trinitron tv. The picture is excellent but is standard def. My 360, PS2, and Wii all look great on it and I don't have a reason yet (other than desire) to upgrade. At some point I'll get a 42" LCD but that's probably a year away. To answer the original question, it did have an effect on my console purchase. The 360 was cheaper overall and had a great game library, but if I did have a high-def TV I might very well have waited until the PS3 came down in price to get the Blu-ray drive. Since I can't take advantage of it, it's not a justifiable purchase or I would have already bought the PS3 on the sony credit card $350 deal running at the moment.

ive seen many many people have widescreen tv's but they are NOT HDtv's by any means. that poll didnt say if the widescreens meant hd's or not so i think hd tvs are not that many in homes with wii. id say maybe 1 out of 20 people has an HDTV. but to play the wii i bet close to 90% use a normal tv for the wii.

 Somwhere I read in industry article on HD penetration into U.S. homes.  It said about 20ish percent of U.S. homes had at least 1HD set and expected it to surpass the 30% mark this holiday.  Interestinly, the article talked about an unknown variable in those numbers and that is how many people are buying LCD/Plasma screens for their size and ability to be place in more convenient locations rather than for the HD experience.  I'll try to find the article...

To answer the direct question, I have an HDTV but only have a Wii so the TV played no role in which system I have.

To expand on what squirrel was saying about HD ownership, for 3 years I delivered mattresses to around 10-15 homes a week so I've been in a lot of homes and seen what kind of TV's various demographics own. The funny thing is the people who seemed to own the most HDTV's were poor people. They'd be living in the ghetto, have a 15 year old car out front, house would be falling apart, they bought a crappy $300 bed, and yet without fail in the living room would be a 48" plasma TV. Middle class was hit or miss, if they were in the group that just got a new mortgage (this was when rates were exremely low) they usually had a mega entertainment center with an HDTV otherwise they typically didn't have one. Richer people seemed to have the fewest HDTV's.

In line with squirrels experience, people in the 25-35ish group usually didn't have an HDTV. They usually had a new house/condo, new cars, and a new bed along with presumabely student loan payments. Oddly it seemed like college age men did frequently have HDTV's (along with 360's). I would guess money from their parents, credit cards, or student loans bought it. Also college age men were about the only people with a video game system hooked up to their HDTV.

As I and others keep pointing out, HD gaming is a little too early for the mass market.

@HappySqurriel: Looks like you're not the only one, whose world view warped.
It looks like the difference between the regions where we live is huge, in that matter.
I am so used to that, every new electronic equipment that comes to market, comes to finnish market the last, and is also more expensive than anywhere else. But just like i pointed out, in my case, the price diffence between widescreen and 4:3 wasn't big.
I have Daewoo TV (Chevrolet these days. LOL) and few of my friends have the similar. It's well known brand and the TV have pretty good picture quality. Some who could afford a better TV usually bought Salora, but it cost nearly double compared to the Daewoo, but it is better.

@Scorptile: The reason why HS brought the HD to this conversation, is that in his region, the percentage of HD:s among widescreens is very high.

@Albinous: Sound funny, but psychologically looking at the matter, the HDTV:s represent better life for these people. Something new, fancy and expensive. It makes them feel like they were richer. Pretty much comparable to why people buy motorbikes, driving one makes you feel free.