Strib Poll on Gopher Interest

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Iceland12

Iceland12

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Iceland12 said:
The Strib is running a "Gopher Interest" entertainment poll at the end of Ruesse's column. I think you should be able to click on the below link without giving Pat a "web hit".

Heck, with all the "non-trolls" around here who claim to love their Gophers the poll numbers should be a slam dunk. Oh yeah, that was sarcastic.

http://www.startribune.com/polls/101549223.html?save= Vote &oid=1&mr=1&cid=8500397&pid=101549223
Click to expand...


I voted earlier. Click on and move the numbers.
 

Weird results so far, but I think they might be true.

When I voted, I saw about 35% of those polled said they are die hard fans.
35% said they don't care at all.

The rest fall somewhere in the middle--- I guess those are the people that finally buy tickets when we're 6-0 and then complain we aren't in Pasadena come January.
 

It's unscientific, sure. But given how motivated the trolls would be to flood this poll with negative responses, it does seem to indicate that interest is not so small as some in the media would have us think. Over 2/3 of people responding had at least some interest in Gophers football. Again, it's unscientific, but unless the poll is being flooded with diehard Gopher fans, it does show a level of interest is not insignificant. Not every interested person is going to games, but they may be on their couch watching the BTN, possibly even wearing a Gophers shirt.
 



betterdeadthanred said:
The link you gave is for the results, this one is to vote
Click to expand...

Thanks.

As of 11:12

Instant Poll: How interested are you in Gophers football?

# of votes % of votes
Very interested 436 32.5 %
Pretty interested 137 10.2 %
A bit interested 343 25.6 %
Not at all interested 423 31.5 %
Total Votes 1339

Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true
 

Statistical note:

Aside from the obvious that this poll is totally nonscientific (the Chicago syndrome of vote early, vote often), statisticians in these polls often lump all the middle categories into a "don't care" or "ignore". Also, when setting up a poll or survey, its often critical on whether you have an odd or even number of responses. With an odd #, there's a "middle". With an even number of choices, it forces the respondents to commit to either a favorable or unfavorable answer.

Since there are 4 choices, one could say that as of 11:12AM, roughly 43% of the readers have significant interest, and 57% have little or no interest. That's not terribly heartening. The control experiment would be to run the same poll with the same choices, except replace "Gophers" with "Vikings". Or "Twins baseball". Maybe we could beat out the T-wolves? And I'm sure we'd kick azz on the Lynx.
 

Still, it indicates far more interest than Reusse wants us to think.
 

The interesting thing is that the poll indicates a lot more interest than you would think if you read the comments to the article. You kept seeing the usual bleating from the trolls. Saying that Brewster is just like Wacker: Wacker would have killed to have teams that performed as well as Brewsters. Saying that the Gophers are like the Detroit Lions: The Gophers have been mediocre. The Lions would love to be mediocre.
 



Also even if you are a very casual gopher fan are you going to vote not at all interested? Looks like a bunch of Herky and Wiscy fans voted.
 

Well I'll be.

From 12:49

Instant Poll: How interested are you in Gophers football?

# of votes % of votes
Very interested 637 33.5 %
Pretty interested 192 10.1 %
A bit interested 480 25.2 %
Not at all interested 591 31.1 %
Total Votes 1900

Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true measurements of public opinion.
 

Iceland12 said:
Well I'll be.

From 12:49

Instant Poll: How interested are you in Gophers football?

# of votes % of votes
Very interested 637 33.5 %
Pretty interested 192 10.1 %
A bit interested 480 25.2 %
Not at all interested 591 31.1 %
Total Votes 1900

Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true measurements of public opinion.
Click to expand...

this poll tells me that the majority of people are really not interested in gopher football until they win. Pretty cut and dry.
 

You guys are missing the point.

EVERYONE who votes has interest- the result don't really matter- the total vote count is what indicates interest. If Reusse is right no one should be voting becasue they don't care.

Once this has run its course, we need to compare to other polls to gauge interest. The one on Favre has about 4400 votes, let's see how close it gets to that.
 



Winnipegopher said:
You guys are missing the point.

EVERYONE who votes has interest- the result don't really matter- the total vote count is what indicates interest. If Reusse is right no one should be voting becasue they don't care.

Once this has run its course, we need to compare to other polls to gauge interest. The one on Favre has about 4400 votes, let's see how close it gets to that.
Click to expand...
That is a unique way of looking at it I'll give you that much.
 

Winnipegopher said:
You guys are missing the point.

EVERYONE who votes has interest- the result don't really matter- the total vote count is what indicates interest. If Reusse is right no one should be voting becasue they don't care.
Click to expand...

-Reading the sports section? Yes.

-Actually giving a rats butt about the gophers? Not so much.
 

Yeha, the fact that you go there to vote indicates SOME level of interest. Now what you need to do is compare the vote totals in a couple days to the ones for Vikings and Twins related polls, then you'll see how much less there truly is. I think I saw a Strib Favre poll that had like 4300 votes.

And I keep hearing this "until they win" talk. What is exactly the threshold that determines "winning"? They won 6 games last year, so what? Do they need to win 7? 8? 9? Or do they have to win a BT title?
 


What concerns me is the 2.5 to 1 ratio of people voting "a bit interested" over "pretty interested". These are the casual fans whose involvement needs to be swayed if sentiments are going to be swayed. Sort of like independent voters vs. hardcore republicans or democrats. This is what you have marketing and advertising for. Wish we had some.

A few days ago the trib had another poll asking "How will the Vikings fare with Favre back?" What amazed me is that nearly 2/3 of the readers think the Vikings are going to the Superbowl. I'll bet anyone here that the Vikes will NOT be in that game if you give me 2:1 odds.

seeing the world thru purple tinted glasses

Just shows the unrealistic optimism surrounding the Vikes. And that comes from hype. And hype comes from marketing. See the connection?
 

Monty519 said:
Yeha, the fact that you go there to vote indicates SOME level of interest. Now what you need to do is compare the vote totals in a couple days to the ones for Vikings and Twins related polls, then you'll see how much less there truly is. I think I saw a Strib Favre poll that had like 4300 votes.

And I keep hearing this "until they win" talk. What is exactly the threshold that determines "winning"? They won 6 games last year, so what? Do they need to win 7? 8? 9? Or do they have to win a BT title?
Click to expand...

How about win Big Ten games? Win some rivalry games? A four and four Big Ten team is an average Big Ten result, so let's go out and do it.
 

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
Just shows the unrealistic optimism surrounding the Vikes. And that comes from hype. And hype comes from marketing. See the connection?
Click to expand...
It's in the psychology of the fan to want to give their teams the benefit of the doubt. Irrational exuberance is at the core of the sports experience. It takes a lot of foundation rattling for that not to be the case on a competitive football team. Fans generally have faith that the Vikings are a talented, smart, well run organization that can go deep into the playoffs. They do not have that same faith in a Gophers football program that to the average observer outside of this bubble has looked largely inept under Brewster's tenure.

That's not a question of marketing in my opinion.
 

RodentRampage said:
Still, it indicates far more interest than Reusse wants us to think.
Click to expand...

Or maybe the level of disinterest is higher and people aren't even taking the time to read the article or answer the poll because they skip right over it if it relates to the gophers.
 

GopherGod said:
Or maybe the level of disinterest is higher and people aren't even taking the time to read the article or answer the poll because they skip right over it if it relates to the gophers.
Click to expand...

Good point, or better yet, they don't read Ruesse since the poll comes at the end of his column.

4:40

Instant Poll: How interested are you in Gophers football?

# of votes % of votes
Very interested 928 33.8 %
Pretty interested 291 10.6 %
A bit interested 711 25.9 %
Not at all interested 812 29.6 %
Total Votes 2742

Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true measurements of public opinio
 


From 6:33. My last update, Good Night everybody!

Instant Poll: How interested are you in Gophers football?
# of votes % of votes
Very interested 1036

35.2 %
Pretty interested 308

10.4 %
A bit interested 750

25.4 %
Not at all interested 849

28.8 %
Total Votes 2943
Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true measurements of public opinion.
 

Gopher Football Interest

If you go with the theory that anyone voting has interest in the Gophers or if you go with the three positive answers...70% of the people have interest in Gopher football. Either way, interest in the Gophers is widespread. And in numbers very similar to the Twins and Vikings.

The only difference is the Twins and Vikings are expected to win division titles. Therefore more people are "active" fans. Gophers need to win some games.
 

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