America hates the New England Patriots and wants them to lose in the Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons, a new poll concludes.
The survey of 378 NFL fans, conducted over two days following the conference championships and published by the Public Policy Polling on Monday, finds that 53 percent of football fans polled are rooting for the Falcons to win on Sunday, compared to only 27 percent pulling for the Patriots.
The overall attitude toward the four-time Super Bowl champions is divided as 43 percent feel positive about the Patriots, while 42 percent of those polled view them negatively. By contrast, of those polled 55 percent view the Falcons positively.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is rated the seventh-most-liked quarterback behind Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Dak Prescott, Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson.
Head-to-head, Ryan has the higher favorability of the Super Bowl quarterbacks.
In the question of least favorite team, the Patriots -- at 21 percent -- beat out the Dallas Cowboys by a 2-percent margin. The Falcons’ are the least hated of all playoff teams at 3 percent negativity.
The Public Policy Polling is a polling firm from North Carolina. The poll, conducted via phone and Internet, had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent. You can see all survey questions and results here.
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