North Carolina football fans continue to support head coach Butch Davis, according to a new survey released today by a Raleigh-based Democratic polling firm.
According to the poll of North Carolina voters released by Public Policy Polling, 41 percent of voters describing themselves as UNC fans approve of the job Davis is doing as coach, while 20 percent disapprove. In addition, only 14 percent of the Tar Heel fan base polled thinks Davis should be fired, while 57 percent think he should keep his job.
In all, 597 voters statewide were polled, but only those 159 who described themselves as Tar Heels fans were asked questions about Davis. Tom Jensen, Public Policy Polling's director, described the poll’s plus- or minus-7.8 percent margin-of-error ratio as high, but said he is confident in the poll’s findings because the numbers were so lopsided.
“I thought it [the opinions on Davis] would be a lot more divided,” Jensen said. “What it tells me is that most of the anti-Davis sentiment is not coming from Carolina fans. The biggest takeaway is that within the UNC fan base, there is a lot of support for him.”
Public Policy Polling conducts monthly polls on political issues, but also adds other questions about Andy Griffith, athletics and other topics This poll was conducted before UNC beat Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend for the first time since 1981 – pushing the Tar Heels’ record to 4-2 entering Saturday’s game against Miami.
UNC chancellor Holden Thorp and athletics director Dick Baddour have expressed support for Davis as the NCAA continues to investigate agent benefits and possible academic misconduct on the football team.
In all, 14 players have missed at least one game because of the investigations. Five of those Tar Heels have been cleared to play; six have either been dismissed for the season, or for good, by the NCAA or the school; and three other cases have yet to be resolved.
Of those polled who described themselves as “hardcore” fans, only 9% of them supported replacing Davis, while 68% said he should remain as coach.
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at
Comments
I support Butch Davis...
Sun, 10/24/2010 - 21:26 — UNC1998I'm a UNC guy, obviously. To me, Davis is the one way out of this mess. He said Saturday that this was his most difficult season ever as a coach. I believe him about that. I hope the entire program looks back at this as a nadir it never wants to reach again. That said, Davis worked Miami out of it's bad situation. While UNC's overall athletic dept is much different from Miami's football first concept, I think it doable at UNC also. One thing it will require is support of the alumni and fans. If you believe Davis is the best way back then supporting Davis is the obvious answer. Backing the program through these and future dark days is also a pretty easy answer.
Well...
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 22:01 — Heels20At the moment, Butch has my full support and I think he's done an incredible job this season considering the circumstances. That said, you can't put too much into these polls. There was that survey last year that said that Roy Williams was much more popular than Mike Kraslkdfja;lkdsf, while it also said that most Carolina fans don't hate Dook. I love Roy, but Kriasd;lfjdjfa;lks is favored by both Dook fans AND Packers, and there indeed is much hate between the UNC and Dook fan-bases.
My opinion, for all it's worth, is that no one should judge Butch until the facts are released. Whether or not he should be fired should not be determined solely by what we know right now.
Three Things
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 16:13 — dupackr1Three things should be considered in this survey:
1) Butch is still winning - if he starts losing...look out!
2) The poll is from a Democratic firm.
3) Per PPP's website, the director and asst. director both graduated from UNC.
Go figure...
Why does a wuffie feel
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 18:19 — jblues1969Why does a wuffie feel qualified to comment on the state of UNC fans opinions?
Secondly, there is a vocal minority of UNC fans that hate football and would seize any opportunity to hurt the program because they feel it threatens the basketball program.
Thirdly, the UNC fat cat faculty hate football and also seize any opportunity to take down the program because they are jealous of the revenue it brings in.
The N&O exploits these two groups to make it seem like they hold a majority.
Democrat vs republican
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 17:14 — gvillegatrI bet you'd be surprised how many UNC folks (alumni or not) are republican. Especially the ones who care about sports.
A neighbor of mine (UNC
Fri, 10/22/2010 - 15:41 — mad_maxA neighbor of mine (UNC alumnus) once told me that in her experience, there were a lot of students in CH that were liberal, but then after they graduated and began their careers, they became conservative.
Just a point that I found interesting. Also, I'm led to believe that in general, people tend to become slightly more conservative as they age.
indeed
Sat, 10/23/2010 - 14:28 — gvillegatrthe truest thing you ever posted Max. Congrats!! :)
The truth is only visible to
Sat, 10/23/2010 - 17:01 — mad_maxThe truth is only visible to those who are willing to see it, gatr. :)
Very true
Fri, 10/22/2010 - 16:11 — JPDOhioEspecially the age part. There are exceptions, but it generally holds true.
Unless, of course, you live in NYC, SF, DC or one of the other bastions of liberal thinking where people don't resort to guns or religion when feeling a little anxious.
Yup
Fri, 10/22/2010 - 15:57 — Heels20Everyone (fortunately, not me) wants to be rebellious and vote for Obama until....well, now.