What is Paterno’s legacy?
By a 2-1 margin Americans say Joe Paterno will be remembered more for his career as a college football coach than for the Penn State child sex abuse scandal that rocked the campus in the last months of Paterno’s life. In a Poll position national scientific telephone survey we asked, “Do you think Paterno’s legacy will be more about his six decades of coaching in college sports or do you think it will be about the child sex abuse scandal which rocked the Penn State football program?”
A majority, 54%, said Paterno’s legacy would be more about his career as a college football coach, 26% said his legacy would be more about the child sex abuse scandal, 14% said it is too soon to tell, and 7% did not have an opinion.
The iconic Paterno passed away on Sunday from lung cancer. His storied career as a football coach and mentor to so many of his former players was overshadowed in the final months of his life by charges of child sex molestation against Jerry Sandusky, one of Paterno’s top assistant coaches at Penn State. Sandusky retired from coaching in 1999. However, he continued to use the campus athletic facilities following his retirement. One of the alleged assaults took place against a young boy in the locker room shower on campus. Paterno has not been charged with any wrongdoing in this case but he admitted he could have done more when allegations against Sandusky were first brought to his attention a decade ago. It is not believed Paterno’s death will have much, if any, impact in the child molestation case against Sandusky.
Men and women differ on the question of Paterno’s legacy. Among men, 57% think Paterno will be mostly remembered more for his college football career, 22% think he will be remembered for the child sex abuse scandal, 13% of men said it is too soon to tell.. Women countered with 50% saying Paterno would be remembered for what he did as a coach, but 29% said the child sex abuse scandal will be what he is mostly remembered for, 15% said it is too soon to tell.
Opinions also differed along racial lines as indicated in the chart below:
Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,113 registered voters nationwide was conducted January 24, 2012 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
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Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation. Here are the crosstabs for this poll: Poll Position Crosstabs-Joe Paterno.
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