Jersey Admits New York Giants and Jets Just Happen to Play in Jersey

Transcription

1 For immediate release Monday, April 2, 2012 Contact: Peter Woolley Krista Jenkins Jersey Admits New York Giants and Jets Just Happen to Play in Jersey 5 pp. Although the world champion New York Giants play in New Jersey, practice in New Jersey, and mostly live in New Jersey, the majority of New Jerseyans reject the notion that the team should give up its New York moniker. According to a recent poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University s PublicMind about half of respondents (49%) say the Giants are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey and, when asked further whether the Giants should change their name to the New Jersey Giants, about half (49%) say no. A little more than a third (36%) endorsed the name change, and another 15% were unsure, or didn t care The same is true when it comes to the other New York or, is it, New Jersey team the New York Jets. Fifty percent say the Jets are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey, and almost the same percentage (47%) reject the idea of a name change to the New Jersey Jets, while 36% say it should change and 17% are unsure or have no opinion. This is surprising, said Krista Jenkins, a pollster with PublicMind. There was a lot of chatter after the Giants Super Bowl victory about changing their name to reflect their New Jersey turf. Apparently these feelings are not widely shared by New Jerseyans. Jenkins notes that even Super Fan Governor Chris Christie weighed in on the issue when he appeared on NBC s Meet the Press recently by arguing The only thing New York about the Giants is the NY on their helmet. Governor Christie may have a point, but he and others have more work to do in convincing Garden State residents that a name change is in order, said Jenkins. The picture changes when only fans views are taken into account. Giants and Jets fans are more likely than non-fans to say that their team is really a New Jersey team that happens to have a New York name. Two-thirds of Jets fans (66%) say theirs is really a New Jersey team compared to 28% who say it s a New York team. Meanwhile, Giants fans split with 48% of who say theirs is really a New Jersey team and 45% saying it s a New York team. But darn those Eagles fans. By a margin of two to one, they see the Giants and Jets as New York teams that just happen to play in New Jersey. I wonder if they would change their mind if the Eagles played on the other side of the Delaware, added Jenkins. Enthusiasm for a name change runs deepest among Jets fans. A solid majority (60%) support a name change, compared to only 41% among Giants fans who support a name change. 1

2 Jenkins concludes, Bottom line, Jersey pride may run deep in some things, but when it comes to the Jets and Giants, many Garden Staters are cool sharing their Sunday stars with New York. The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 800 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone using both landlines and cell phones from Mar. 5 through Mar. 11, 2012, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points. Methodology, questions, and tables on the web at: Radio actualities at For more information, please call Methodology, Questions, and Tables The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University s PublicMind was conducted by telephone from Mar. 5, 2012, through Mar. 11, 2012, using a randomly selected sample of 800 registered voters statewide. The margin of error for a sample of 800 randomly selected respondents is +/- 3.5 percentage points. The margin of error for subgroups is larger and varies by the size of that subgroup. Survey results are also subject to non-sampling error. This kind of error, which cannot be measured, arises from a number of factors including, but not limited to, non-response (eligible individuals refusing to be interviewed), question wording, the order in which questions are asked, and variations among interviewers. PublicMind interviews are conducted by Opinion America of Cedar Knolls, NJ, with professionally trained interviewers using a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system. Random selection is achieved by computerized random-digit dialing. This technique gives every person with a landline phone number (including those with unlisted numbers) an equal chance of being selected. Landline households are supplemented with a separate, randomly selected sample of cell-phone-only-households, interviewed in the same time frame. The total combined sample is mathematically weighted to match known demographics of age, race and gender. Now thinking for a moment about the game of football. Would you say or? the Giants are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey. the Giants are a New Jersey team that happens to have a New York name. Rotate order All Party ID Age Fandom NY team 49% NJ team 37% Don t know 15% Should the New York Giants change their name to the New Jersey Giants or not? All Party ID Age Fandom Yes 36% No 49% Don t know 15% Would you say or? the Jets are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey. the Jets are a New Jersey team that happens to have a New York name. Rotate order All Party ID Age Fandom NY team 50% NJ team 32% Don t know 18%

3 Should the New York Jets change their name to the New Jersey Jets, or not? All Party ID Age Fandom Yes 36% No 47% Don t know 17% Are you a fan of another team, or not a football fan? All Party ID Age Race D I R White Non-white Afr. Am. Giants fan 34% Jets fan 9% Eagles fan 12% Another team 16% Not a fan 29%

4 Exact Question Wording and Order Giants/Jets Now thinking for a moment about the game of football ROTATE GJ1, 2 GJ1A. Would you say or? ROTATE the Giants are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey the Giants are a New Jersey team that happens to have a New York name. DK/Unsure [DON T READ] GJ1B. Should the New York Giants change their name to the New Jersey Giants or not? Yes No DK (vol) GJ2A. Would you say or the Jets are a New York team that happens to play in New Jersey the Jets are a New Jersey team that happens to have a New York name. DK/Unsure [DON T READ] GJ2B. Should the New York Jets change their name to the New Jersey Jets, or not? Yes Not Dk (vol) GJ3. Are you a ROTATE a fan of another team, or not a football fan? ROTATE LIST Giants fan, Jets fan, Eagles fan Another team Not a fan

5 Sample Characteristics (%) Gender Male 49 Female 51 Age Ref. 4 In addition to being American, would you say you are? White 68 Black 13 Hispanic or Latino 9 Asian 4 Other/ref. 6 Party ID Dem. + lean Dem. 49 ind. + unsure + ref. 18 Rep. + lean Rep. 33 # # #