As each week passes during this ongoing NFL season, more evidence is piling up to indicate that viewers are tuning out in droves.
But why is this happening? Well, one clue in a new poll indicates that one-third of viewers are changing the channel over the anti-American protests during the national anthem.
A new Rasmussen poll finds that 32 percent of adults surveyed say that they have stopped watching NFL football because of the protests while only a scant 13 percent said they are more likely to tune in because of the anthem protests.
Drilling down into the results shows that more women than men are tired of the Black Lives Matter-like protests with 29 percent of men saying they are less likely to watch pro football compared to 38 percent of women, who intimated that they are uncomfortable with the protests.
The NFL preseason kicked off in controversy when San Francisco 49ers second string quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to remain seated during the playing of the national anthem instead of standing in honor of the nation’s theme like everyone else was.
As the weeks rolled on and Kaepernick began kneeling on the field during the regular season, his protest spread not only throughout the NFL but into other sports.
As the season rolls into Week Five, though, television ratings have been seen tumbling each week to new lows.
The ratings for Week Three’s Sunday featured game between Chicago and Dallas measured in at 12.9 in the Neilsen ratings. This is down from the previous Sunday’s 13.7 and that was down from week one’s 13.9 rating. Ratings also dropped by 18 percent over week three from last year for all the midday regional games, according to Sports Business Daily.
The ratings for Monday Night Football are even worse. The game between Atlanta and New Orleans received a low 5.7 rating. It was a 38 percent plunge over the same week last year.
During these protests, Colin Kaepernick’s reputation has also taken a major hit. Since he started his rants against America, he has become the most hated player in the NFL.
Despite that, Kaepernick has continued his anti-American attacks even off the field. Recently he attacked the U.S. saying it has never been great as he talked about Donald Trump’s now well-loved slogan.
“He always says, ‘Make America great again,'” Kaepernick said about Trump. “Well, America has never been great for people of color and that’s something that needs to be addressed. Let’s make America great for the first time.”
Kaepernick’s hate for the country has spread to other sports, and even high schools, have begun indulging these protests. And just last weekend a college marching band drew criticism from its own school administrators for taking a knee during the national anthem.
But, if the news on the ratings are any indication, Americans are beginning to get fed up with the constant drumbeat of liberal politics shoehorned into their once beloved forms of apolitical entertainment.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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