Poll: Tiger Wood's popularity plummets, most say he should handle marriage issues privately

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It’s been a strange end of the decade for one Tiger Woods.

In the midst of his personal and public fallout due to revelations of his marital infidelity Woods’ personal favorability numbers have plummeted at the same time he has been named the Associated Press “Athlete of the Decade”.

Tiger’s recent honor comes during a tumultuous year and half. In 2008 the world’s greatest golfer won one of the most memorable U.S. Open’s in history only to then miss significant time due to injury. He returned to golf earlier this year to lead the PGA tour in both wins and earnings despite not winning a major. Woods’ recent admissions to cheating on wife with numerous women have thrown his personal life into turmoil just as his exploits on the golf course win him a prestigious honor.

Last Wednesday a Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that just 38% of the public now has a favorable opinion of the golf superstar. Two years ago Woods was at 83%. A recent poll from USA Today/Gallup mirrors those results indicating Tiger’s favorability has plummeted to 33% down from 85% in June of 2005. The record level of personal popularity obtained by Woods was 88% in 2000 according to the latter poll. Only President George W. Bush saw a more climactic dive in popularity for a public figure in the 2000s.

53% of Americans claim to be following the events surrounding Tiger Woods at least somewhat closely according to Rasmussen. There is a small gender gap with 42% of men offering a positive assessment of the golfer against just 35% of women viewing him favorably. Only one-third (33%) of married Americans hold a favorable opinion of Woods at this point. According to the USA Today poll 61% of women now hold an unfavorable view of Tiger with 67% claiming to be disappointed by his actions. A majority of men (53-54%) also share in that sentiment. Advertisers may be wise to take note as well with nearly one in five of those polled (19%) saying they’ll have a less favorable opinion of those companies that use Woods as an endorser.

When analyzing the potential effects of retaining Woods as an endorsement a Marist survey suggests that only eight-percent of the public would be less likely to purchase products from a company using Tiger however. One-percent say they would actually be more likely to support that company with the vast majority (91%) indicating his presence will have little to no impact on their buying decisions.

Nearly seven in ten adults (69%) agree that Woods should deal with events privately against just a quarter (25%) who would like to see him address his marriage issues publicly. The Marist poll does not give its responders a list of options to choose from of how best Woods should address the public in the event he chooses to do so. There is a virtually nonexistent gender gap between the number of those in favor of seeing a public address or a private handling of his situation however.

Tiger Woods has won twelve of his fourteen majors in the 2000s and earned $81,547,410 from his performance on the course alone over the decade. It has been estimated that Woods has accumulated over a billion dollars from a combination of tour earnings and endorsements over his career. Woods unseated Michael Jordan’s thirteen year reign as America’s mot popular athlete in 2006 according to a Harris survey. In October of this year Harris also polled Woods as the second greatest “sports star” of all-time behind Jordan and ahead of baseball legend Babe Ruth.

PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS / US WEEKLY