The decision to vacate Tom Brady’s suspension last week was met with widespread support among New England Patriots fans.
Outside of Patriot Nation, however, people were much more critical of Judge Richard Berman’s decision to lift the star quarterback’s suspension for his alleged role in the Deflategate scandal, a new Globe poll shows.
While a whopping 77 percent of Patriots fans who were polled agreed with the decision to lift the star quarterback’s four-game suspension, only 32 percent nationwide held the same view.
And while only 11 percent of the Patriots fans disagreed with the judge giving Brady a break, 40 percent of those polled nationwide did.
The Internet poll by Google Consumer Surveys of people who knew about the Deflategate controversy showed a wide divergence in views between Patriots fans and the rest of the nation.
The divide was also on display when respondents were questioned about whether they thought Brady had actually been responsible for the deflation of footballs during the 2015 American Football Conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Only 21 percent of self-declared Patriots fans said they believed Brady played a role in the deflation, while 48 percent nationwide said they did.
One aspect of the scandal that somewhat united both Patriots fans and foes was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of the case.
Nearly a third of total respondents ranked it as “very poor.” Only 6 percent called it “excellent.”
The percentage of people who wanted Goodell to lose his job outnumbered the percentage who wanted him to keep it, both nationally and among Patriots fans.
But Patriots fans’ desire was stronger for another commissioner at 345 Park Avenue. Forty-two percent of them thought the man who disciplined their quarterback should lose his job, compared with 31 percent nationally.
Poll respondents were first asked if they had heard of Deflategate. Of the 2,377 people surveyed, 1,064, or 45 percent, responded yes. That group was then asked follow-up questions about the scandal. The survey, which was conducted Sept. 4 and 5, polled Internet users and users of the Google Opinion Rewards app.
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Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that the survey uses online advertisements to poll Internet users.
Catherine Cloutier can be reached at catherine.cloutier@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @cmcloutier.