Tuesday, July 13, 2010

LeBron's Numbers

When it comes to American public opinion on LeBron James it's all about race. African Americans have a very favorable view of the basketball star, with 63% seeing him favorably to only 8% unfavorably. But whites see him pretty dimly, with only 9% holding a positive opinion of him and 35% seeing him in a negative light. It adds up to overall negative feelings toward James with 19% of Americans seeing him favorably and 29% holding an unfavorable opinion.

Other observations from the poll:

-The 52% of respondents with no opinion about James one way or the other is a little surprising after all the attention he got last week and perhaps a reminder that most Americans just aren't all that interested in the NBA.

-One thing whites and blacks are in agreement on is that the way James handled his free agency caused them to lower their opinion of him. Only 9% say that they have a higher opinion of him now than they did before he went on the market, compared to 29% who now have a lower opinion of him. 31% of whites and 29% of blacks view James less favorably now than they did previously.

-This is highly correlated with the numbers on race but James gets less and less popular as you move right across the ideological spectrum. With liberals he's on positive ground at 25/22 but with moderates it's negative at 24/30 and with conservatives it's especially negative at 12/32.

It's clear James has taken a hit in the court of public opinion...but that's probably not going to matter much if he walks off the basketball court next spring with a ring.

Full results here

9 comments:

Christian Liberty said...

I'm quite happy that LeBron denied millions of $$$ of income taxes to Ohio and moved his earnings power down to Florida, where there is no state income tax.

Anonymous said...

Christian Liberty, why don't you move down to Florida? Or, better yet, the moon? I hear the tax rate there is miniscule.

Christian Liberty said...

Have I struck a nerve?!

Just what makes you think that the government has any right to collect income taxes in the first place? Taxing income, especially anything above a top rate of 10%, is economically destructive and morally repugnant.

LeBron (and Tiger and Rush) should be commended for having the wisdom to leave Ohio, California, and New York for Florida, where productive people are treated like human beings instead of milk cows.

Christian Liberty said...

Speaking of income taxes, have you noticed how Texas provides superior living standards to California?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Low-tax-Texas-beats-big-government-California-86681467.html

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/13/news/economy/california_texas_economy.fortune/index.htm

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't live in Texas to save my life. They are all bigoted, close minded, bible thumping, bat shit crazy assholes.

Michael Dohrn said...

Polling about Lebron James? Approved and seconded! Should consider polling about rugby in the same question set, I'd love to see more of that sport in the US... its like football but for real men, not fancy boys in suits of plastic armor.

Machiavelli999 said...

Texas is having a great economy now for the reason it had a horrible economy in the 1980s. It's also the same reason corrupt countries like Russia and Venezuela are seeing growth.

It's one thing and one thing only. OIL. $70/barrel~ today = prospering texas.

<$20/barrell in the 1980s = one of the worst performing economies during the 80s and a collapsing Texas real estate market

It really is that simple.

Oh and btw, income taxes during the entire 1950-2010 era of the USA obv >>10% and yet perhaps the best economic run in history (well if you don't count the last 10 yrs)

Christian Liberty said...

Anonymous and Machiavelli are perfect examples of the BIGOTRY and IGNORANCE of the left that will be their own downfall.

Conservatism is the ideology of success and achievement.

Leftist ideology is self-defeating and will destroy those who follow it.

And obviously you don't read, because Texas has a well-diversified economy and superior quality public services.

Your bigoted views of Texas will cause you to always remain inferior. Conservatives will always achieve more than bigoted leftist nutjobs like yourselves.

Christian Liberty said...

Machiavelli,

if you had any knowledge of history you would know that the economy was strongest when there was ZERO income tax. Even after the income tax was unfortunately enacted, the economy was strongest when the top rate was 7%.

When the income tax was debated, many wanted to cap the top rate at 10%. Eventually the idea was dropped because no one credibly thought the top tax rate would EVER get above 10%.

Once again, we should have listened. We should have learned from history.

We should either cap the top rate at 10%... or ABOLISH the income tax entirely.

 
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