Rodgers takes the crown

The last part of our October Wisconsin poll focuses on sports issues in the state:

-Aaron Rodgers is the most popular person PPP has ever polled on, anywhere, sports, politics, you name it. An amazing 89% of voters in the state have a favorable opinion of him, to only 4% with an unfavorable one. Wisconsin voters are already ready to declare him the best Quarterback in Packers history- 36% grant him that distinction to 29% for Brett Favre, 23% for Bart Starr, and 2% for Arnie Herber.

Part of Rodgers winning that honor has to do with his own appeal, but it's also because folks in Wisconsin have soured on Favre- only 41% have a favorable opinion of him to 45% with a negative one. Those numbers will surely recover with time but for now Favre's popularity in the state is not what it once was.

Rodgers' numbers beg the question- who, anywhere, could do better than an 89/4 favorability rating? We'll take suggestions for our national poll next week on who could beat 89/4.

-2011 may have been the Milwaukee Brewers' best season in decades but that still doesn't put them anywhere close to matching the Packers' popularity in the state  70% of voters say the Packers are their favorite of the state's pro teams to 13% for the Brewers and 3% for the Bucks.  The Wisconsin Badgers can't hold a candle to the Packers either- 61% say they care more about the state's NFL team to only 18% who go with their major college football team.

-Wisconsin voters may be caught in the present on the issue of their favorite Packers QB of all time, but they look to the past for their favorite coach. 56% pick Vince Lombardi to 13% for Mike McCarthy, 9% for Mike Holmgren, and 7% for Curley Lambeau. McCarthy might not win that contest, but he's still extremely popular with voters in the state. 77% rate him favorably to only 7% with a negative opinion. Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema has great numbers too with voters that have an opinion about him- 48/8- but the 44% with no take speaks to the considerably lower profile of Badger football in the state compared to the Packers.

Full results here

Comments

[Vote For Obama]

I had never even heard of Aaron Rodgers. Had to look him up. Looks like he's pretty good, eh? This reminds me of something Noam Chomsky said about people's intelligence... (paraphrasing here) It's easy to think that most Americans are complete idiots but really they just spend their time acquiring knowledge about useless BS (such as pro sports.)

[David]

The only people I can fathom beating 89/4 at a national level would be Martin Luther King Jr or Ben Franklin.