College football fans in the Sunshine State are almost evenly divided between the University of Florida (UF) Gators and the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles but the Sunshine State remains fond of Tim Tebow.
Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a new poll on Thursday which shows 23 percent of college football fans cheering for the Gators while 22 percent pull for the Seminoles. The University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights and the University of Miami Hurricanes have the support of 10 percent apiece.
The University of South Florida (USF) Bulls are favored by 8 percent while 4 percent root for the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Owls. Only 1 percent say they pull for the Florida International University (FIU) Panthers.
Seminole fans by and large approve of their head football coach Jimbo Fisher who led FSU to the BCS national title in the 2013-2014 season. More than half of Seminole fans -- 55 percent -- say they approve of Fisher while only 6 percent disapprove of him and 39 percent are not sure.
New Gator head coach Jim McElwain is far less known with 66 percent of UF fans not sure what they think of him. Only 6 percent see him as unfavorable while 29 percent of Gator fans see him in a favorable light.
A slight majority of Hurricane fans -- 51 percent -- are not sure about Miami head coach Al Golden. While12 percent of Hurricane fans disapprove of him, 38 percent of them approve of Golden.
Despite not playing in a National Football League (NFL) regular season game since his stint in 2012 as the backup quarterback for the New York Jets, Tebow, who led the Gators to a national title and won the Heisman Award, remains very popular in the Sunshine State. The poll shows 53 percent of all Floridians see Tebow as favorable while only 13 percent see him in an unfavorable light. Tebow was in the news recently after trying out with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The poll of 923 registered Florida voters was taken March 19-23 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
