Women, Hispanics & Youth Opinions on NFL Teams and Quarterbacks
Interesting new poll out:
Packers are the real America’s team
It’s probably time to turn the America’s team label over to the Green Bay Packers. PPP’s newest national survey finds that no matter how you measure it the Packers are more popular than the Dallas Cowboys, and in fact the Cowboys are actually America’s least favorite team.
22% of voters say the Packers are their favorite team in the NFL to 11% for the Cowboys, 8% for the Bears, Giants, and Steelers, 7% for the Saints, 6% for the Patriots, 4% for the Redskins, and 2% for the Jets. 24% say someone else is their favorite team or that they don’t have a favorite.
We also asked favorability questions about both the Cowboys and Packers. The Packers are seen positively by 57% of voters in the country to only 13% who have negative opinion. Their positive image is pretty universal- every subgroup we look at by ideology, gender, party, race, and age has a strong favorable opinion of them. The Cowboys meanwhile are generally viewed negatively, with 29% of voters having a favorable opinion of them to 41% with a negative one.
Finally we also asked a straight up ‘horse race’ style question about whether people like the Cowboys or Packers better. The Packers come out ahead 49-28 on that one. In an era of unprecedented political divisiveness liking the Packers better than the Cowboys is something Americans across the political spectrum can agree on- Democrats prefer the Packers 44-26, Republicans do 60-29, and independents do 44-30.
The Cowboys did come out first on one question in our poll: Americans’ least favorite NFL team. 22% pick the Cowboys on that front to 11% for the Bears, 8% for the Packers, 7% for the Patriots and Redskins, 6% for the Steelers, 4% for the Jets and Giants, and 1% for the Saints. The Cowboys may deliver awesome tv ratings but these numbers suggest that’s in large part because people are watching them and hoping they lose.
It’s a murkier picture when it comes to crowning America’s most popular quarterback. When you just ask straight up who’s your favorite quarterback Tim Tebow comes out ahead by the narrowest of margins with 15% to 14% for Eli Manning, 12% for Peyton Manning, 10% each for Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers, 6% for Michael Vick, and 4% for Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo. The Mannings are clearly very popular but since they’re ’splitting the vote’ it allows Tebow to finish first.
When you look at it in terms of ranking the quarterbacks by their net favorability though Peyton Manning emerges on top at +42 (51/9), followed by Brees at +40 (46/6), Tebow at +35 (50/15), Eli Manning at +32 (44/12), Aaron Rodgers at +31 (39/8), Tom Brady at +18 (35/17), Tony Romo at -4 (23/27), Ben Roethlisberger at -11 (20/31), and Michael Vick at -19 (24/43).
The crosstabs expose some more interesting divisions on the quarterbacks:
-Tim Tebow is viewed favorably by 68% of Republicans but only 39% of Democrats. Just to put those numbers into some context, none of the Republican Presidential candidates are even seen positively by 68% of Republicans. He’s more popular than any of them.
27% of GOP voters pick him as their favorite QB, putting him in first place by a mile, but among Democrats he’s only tied for 6th at 9%. The Mannings are the preferred quarterbacks of Democratic voters. 13% pick Eli as their favorite and Peyton has the best net favorability with them at +39 (49/10).
-Michael Vick’s numbers are incredibly polarized along racial lines. African Americans see him positively 75/10, but whites see him negatively 16/52. 41% of blacks name him as their favorite quarterback with no one else above 13%, but only 2% of whites say he’s their favorite.
Vick wins the dubious distinction of least popular QB with 26% picking him on that question to 15% for Roethlisberger, 11% for Eli Manning, 8% for Brady, 6% for Romo, 5% for Tebow, and 3% each for Rodgers, Brees, and Peyton Manning.
There are some other interesting groups that aren’t really discussed in the overall coverage of this study, but there are some differences that stick out.
Women
It is interesting that there is suspicion that women like Brady because of his looks, but he is seen as favorable by 42% of men and only 27% of women. Ladies’ favorite QB is Peyton Manning with 45% favorability (56% for men) narrowly beating out Tebow (43% favorable for women and 56% for men). Also, Big Ben is seen as favorable by only 15% of women (and 24% by men), which should be no surprise considering his rather… murky history. However the unfavorable is a bit of a surprise. Men find him more unfavorable by 36% to 25%.
The favorite team selections are pretty evenly split by gender, which one would expect, but the biggest difference is the Steelers. 11% of women pick them as their favorite team (second only to the Packers) yet only 6% of men consider the Steelers their favorite (in 7th place). The same odd discrepancy holds for least favorite team. Why do women like the Steelers so much? Especially with their notorious QB?
Hispanics
And while it may make sense that Vick is the most popular QB for blacks, what is curious is that Brees is the most popular for Hispanics. By a wide margin. Brees is the favorite QB for 8% of whites, 9% of blacks and 26% of Hispanics. Hispanics also like Tebow more than anyone.
Hispanics also hate the Cowboys more than anyone. They are their least favorite team of 37% of Hispanics vs. 21% for whites and 25% for blacks.
Youth
Aaron Rodgers is the favorite QB of 11-14% of those 30 and older, but only 2% of those 18-29. The favorite QB among youth? The Manning brothers, tied with 18% each (more than older age groups). Also, the poll made a big deal out of the Cowboys losing their “America’s Team” moniker, but among young people the name might still hold. While still losing out to the Packers (at 23%) the Cowboys are the second favorite team among young people, selected by 20% of them. This is more than double that of older groups. When given a head to head match up, youth pick Cowboys over the Packers 38% to 26%.
Also strange, the Giants are the favorite team of 14% of 30-45 year olds, but only 5% of everyone else. What a strange, and significant, difference.