Let’s get right down to it: your favorite college sports school, UVA or Virginia Tech. And the survey said?
UVA, according to new polling data from Public Policy Polling.
Spelling it out, UVA is favored by 31 percent of those surveyed, with Virginia Tech at 22 percent.
The Hokies hold the advantage in two of the six area codes – the 276 (40-27) and the 540 (30-29). UVA has a big margin in the 434 (54-18), a decent bulge in the 571/703 (35-15) and 804 (34-23), and bad news for both schools in terms of recruiting athletes in the 757, that few there seem to care either way (UVA has a slight 15-13 edge in fan loyalties there).
Of course you want to know how this all breaks down by political party affiliation. Come on, admit it.
Democrats back UVA 28-18, Republicans 37-24, and independents 30-25.
So that should end any arguments at the dinner table from your drunk uncle about how all Tech fans are Trump-backing fascists, or whatever.
Diving deeper into the numbers, we see that UVA fans generally approve of the hiring of Bronco Mendenhall as the new football coach (32-10, with 58 percent not sure), and Virginia Tech fans similarly like the hire of Justin Fuente (36-7, with 57 percent not sure).
Sixty-three percent of Tech fans have a favorable opinion of former football coach Frank Beamer, with 6 percent having their heads stuck up their asses, er, not approving.
(The guy is a legend, and Tech sports is still mired toward the bottom of the Group of Five without what he did there.)
Thirty-one percent of UVA fans backed the move to fire Mike London as football coach. Somehow, 18 percent opposed the move, and 51 percent were unsure. (Throwing into question how many times Craig Littlepage’s phone number popped up in this particular survey.)
Forty-four percent of UVA fans like the job that Tony Bennett is doing as the men’s basketball coach. Six percent don’t, and 49 percent are unsure, and yes, this means the fan base is too fat and too happy for its own good, when 30 wins a year isn’t good enough.
Thirty-one percent of Tech fans approve of the job that Buzz Williams is doing as the men’s hoops coach in Blacksburg. The 7 percent who don’t can never be pleased, and the 62 percent who are unsure are also unsure that Virginia Tech sports exists outside of the college football season, so we’ll forgive them.