Raleigh, N.C. – One symptom of the losing ways of the Houston Nutt years at Ole Miss is that the Rebels have fallen to being only the third most popular college sports team in the state: 36% of voters say that Mississippi State is their favorite school to 27% for Southern Mississippi and only 21% for Mississippi. That decline in fan support in and of itself might prove that a change was badly needed.
-Ole Miss may get its mascot back though- 52% of voters say they would support a constitutional amendment to designate Colonel Reb as the school’s official mascot to only 22% who say they would oppose such a move at this time. White voters with an opinion on the matter pretty universally support it, 62/14, and although black voters oppose it 19-46 that opposition is not as unanimous as the support from whites at this point.
-Mississippi remains one of the most conservative states in the country when it comes to gay marriage: only 13% of voters think it should be legal to 78% who believe it should remain illegal. Even among Democrats there’s only 19% support for it. Most states we poll now at least have a majority in support of civil unions but that’s not the case in Mississippi- 60% of voters are completely opposed to any sort of legal recognition for gay couples with just 38% supporting either gay marriage or civil unions.
-Earlier this year we found that only 40% of Republican voters in Mississippi thought inter racial marriage should be legal but we asked it again on this poll and found 52% support for it with GOP voters- still a surprisingly low number but progress. Overall 60% of voters in the state support inter racial marriage to 23% who think it should be illegal.
-We’ve been asking about secession in a series of states recently: only 10% of Mississippi voters would like to leave the union. That’s a lower level of support than the 14% we’ve found on Texas and Hawaii polls lately for their states striking out on their own.
PPP surveyed 796 likely Mississippi voters from November 4th to 6th. The margin of error for the survey is +/-3.5%. This poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization. PPP surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews. PPP is a Democratic polling company, but polling expert Nate Silver of the New York Times found that its surveys in 2010 actually exhibited a slight bias toward Republican candidates.
Topline results are below. Full results can be found here.
Q1 Would you support or oppose Mississippi
seceding from the United States?
Support ………………………………………………….. 10%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 68%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 22%
Q2 Do you think same-sex marriage should be
legal or illegal?
Legal……………………………………………………… 13%
Illegal …………………………………………………….. 78%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%
Q3 Which of the following best describes your
opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should
be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples
should be allowed to form civil unions but not
legally marry, or there should be no legal
recognition of a gay couple’s relationship?
Gay couples should be allowed to legally
marry ……………………………………………………..10%
Gay couples should be allowed to form civil
unions but not marry …………………………………28%
There should be no legal recognition of a gay
couple’s relationship …………………………………60%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 2%
Q4 Do you think interracial marriage should be
legal or illegal?
Legal……………………………………………………… 60%
Illegal …………………………………………………….. 23%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 17%
Q5 Is your favorite college sports team in the state
Mississippi, Mississippi State, or Southern
Mississippi?
MIssissippi ……………………………………………… 21%
Mississippi State ……………………………………… 36%
Southern Mississippi ………………………………… 27%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 17%
Q6 Would you support or oppose a Constitutional
Amendment to designate Colonel Reb as the
official mascot of the University of Mississippi?
Support ………………………………………………….. 52%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 22%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 26%
Q7 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Brett Favre?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 52%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 18%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 30%
Q8 Given the choices of the Atlanta Braves,
Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Houston
Astros, New York Yankees, Philadelphia
Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Texas
Rangers, which is your favorite professional
baseball team?
Braves …………………………………………………… 38%
Red Sox…………………………………………………. 5%
Cubs ……………………………………………………… 9%
Astros ……………………………………………………. 2%
Yankees …………………………………………………. 6%
Phillies …………………………………………………… 2%
Cardinals………………………………………………… 13%
Rangers …………………………………………………. 5%
Someone else/Don’t have a favorite team …… 18%
Q9 Given the choices of the Atlanta Falcons,
Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Houston
Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans
Saints, New York Giants, and Tennessee
Titans, which is your favorite professional
football team?
Falcons ………………………………………………….. 5%
Cowboys………………………………………………… 10%
Packers………………………………………………….. 8%
Texans …………………………………………………… 0%
Colts ……………………………………………………… 8%
Saints…………………………………………………….. 42%
Giants ……………………………………………………. 6%
Titans…………………………………………………….. 5%
Someone else/Don’t have a favorite team …… 17%
Q10 If there was a Presidential election between
Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, who
would you vote for?
Jefferson Davis ……………………………………….. 28%
Abraham Lincoln……………………………………… 55%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 16%
Q11 Who did you vote for President in 2008?
John McCain…………………………………………… 54%
Barack Obama………………………………………… 40%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 6%
Q12 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 12%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 10%
Moderate………………………………………………… 21%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 25%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 32%
Q13 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 54%
Man……………………………………………………….. 46%
Q14 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 39%
Republican……………………………………………… 47%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 14%
Q15 If you are white, press 1. If African-American,
press 2. If other, press 3.
White …………………………………………………….. 66%
African-American …………………………………….. 30%
Other……………………………………………………… 3%
Q16 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 16%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 22%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 37%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 25%
