The confidential settlement of Colin Kaepernick’s lawsuit against the NFL finds the nation evenly divided on its impact on his protests.
In a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted this week, by a margin of 44-42%, the public says the settlement has not diminished the impact of his protest.
By 45-40%, the public believes the settlement is an admission by the NFL that collusion by NFL teams against him took place.
When the question of approval for Kaepernick was asked in September 2017, his support was only 32%, with disapproval at 44%.
While white respondents are evenly divided on whether the settlement diminished the impact of the protests, by 2 to 1 African-Americans believe that it does. Whites are also evenly divided on whether it the settlement is an admission of collusion by the NFL, but African-Americans believe it is by 3 to 1.
794 adult Americans were polled on both landlines and cellphones, a margin of +/- 3.5%.
Despite a fairly close overall division on whether or not the settlement was an admission of collusion on the part of the NFL, by more than a 3-1 margin (41-13%), respondents believed that Kaepernick’s chance of being signed to a new NFL contract has decreased because of the settlement.
“People remain divided regarding the message of his kneeling during the national anthem,” noted Rick Gentile, director of the poll, which is sponsored by the Sharkey Institute in the Stillman School of Business. “But there certainly seems to be a feeling that doors are not going to open for the renewal of his career.”
Disapproval of U. of Mississippi Basketball Protesters
In a related matter, by a 42-29% margin, people disapproved of the University of Mississippi basketball players kneeling last weekend to protest an on campus rally honoring Confederate soldiers. That margin draws a close comparison to the September 2017 Kaepernick findings. However, 12 out of 13 African-Americans offered support of the protest.
Results breakdown can be found online at http://blogs.shu.edu/sportspoll/2019/02/28/despite-nfl-settlement-nation-evenly-divided-on-kaepernick-impact/
The Official Seton Hall Sports Poll podcast discussing this topic with Seth Everett and Rick Gentile can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/mt/podcast/seton-hall-sports-poll/id1053266467.
