Tiger Woods’ popularity remains in freefall, according to a new poll that says golf’s one-time king of the hill is languishing under a mountain of bad publicity.
According to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, Woods’ “favorable” rating dropped to 33 percent. That’s significantly down from the 85 percent favorable rating he enjoyed in June 2005, when he bordered on beloved.
His “unfavorable” rating surged to 57 percent from only 8 percent four years ago.
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The new numbers follow a horrendous three-week public unraveling during which hardly a day went by without news of another adulterous affair involving the image-conscious golf great.
Woods opened the decade with the highest popularity rating in Gallop history when the pollster asked Americans to voice their opinions about the links legend.
His 88 percent rating at the time helped him become one of corporate America’s premier pitchmen.
Then the bottom fell out after a quirky car accident lifted the lid on Tiger’s tawdry trysts.
“For many years, Woods was the most positively rated person we rated,” said Jeffrey Jones, the Gallup Poll’s managing editor. “Now he ranks worse than a lot of the politicians we measure. The drop is definitely unprecedented.”
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The national poll of 1,025 U.S. adults was done from Friday through Sunday. Respondents were asked their opinion after Woods’ admitted to “infidelity.”
The announcement led at least two major sponsors to cut ties with Woods, announced at the time that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence from golf to try to save his marriage.
Woods’ popularity suffered most with women. His unfavorable rating is 8 points higher among women, 61 percent, than men, 53 percent.