Poll: Bradley Still Popular

Ignoring the noise was one of the goals last week as the Jaguars had lost four straight to fall to 1-5 including games against Indy, Tampa Bay and the Texans they could have, and probably should have won. There was a flood of sentiment on social media and elsewhere that Gus Bradley had to go along with Dave Caldwell and all of their staffs.

This past Saturday in London, Owner Shad Khan, whose voice is the only one who counts, said it hadn’t crossed his mind regarding getting rid of Bradley and Caldwell mid-season. Looking at what they’ve accomplished at the end of the season was “the sane and proper thing to do.”

Before the win in London over the Bills, a local company commissioned a poll through Gravis Marketing regarding the popularity of Caldwell and Bradley. Gravis is a political polling company but stepped into the sports arena asking questions via telephone last Thursday and Friday of 659 people who identified themselves as “Jaguars fans.” Twenty nine percent of the responders were season ticket holders. The margin of error in this poll is considered to be around 4%.

Unlike the calls for Bradley’s job that seemed overwhelming, almost half of the responders have a favorable opinion of Bradley.

Along the same lines, nearly half said Khan should keep Gus while about 30% thought he should hit the road. A quarter of the people answering said they weren’t sure about the head coach’s future.

Not so favorable was the impression of General Manager Dave Caldwell. Less than half thought Caldwell should keep his job while over 60% said Khan should dismiss him or they weren’t sure.

Overwhelmingly, these Jaguars fans thought Blake Bortles was the right guy at quarterback for the team. Nearly three quarters of the answers said he was either on schedule or doing better than expected as a second year quarterback.

It’s pretty clear Gus’ personality is appealing to Jaguars fans and while they like him based on his favorable number, they’re expecting more from the team. Since Caldwell isn’t in the public eye much, and when he is he’s a reserved personality, he doesn’t benefit from a connection with Jaguars fans.

The group surveyed was equally split between men and women and 90% were between the ages of 18 and 64.