In the debate over athletes protesting during the national anthem, it is clear where most Utahns stand.
More than two-thirds of registered voters polled earlier this month for The Salt Lake Tribune said they did not believe athletes should kneel in protest during the anthem.
In total, 67 percent of people interviewed in the new Dan Jones & Associates poll were opposed to athletes’ kneeling during the song, compared with 21 percent who supported the form of protest.
Meanwhile, 81 percent of people polled said the national anthem should be played before sporting events, with only 10 percent saying it should not.
It has been over a year since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick drew national attention for sitting, and later kneeling, as the national anthem played before football games in protest of racial inequalities in America, and specifically the treatment of black people by police. While Kaepernick is now out of the NFL — and considering legal action against the league — hundreds of athletes have joined in the protest. Last month, President Donald Trump called for players to stand during the anthem or for owners to fire them.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said at a September rally in Alabama.
Those remarks spawned even more protests and created an even greater rift with some fans, often white and conservative. A CNN poll in September found Americans to be split on the protests. But, according to that poll, 82 percent of blacks said the athletes were doing the right thing in protesting inequality by kneeling during the anthem while 59 percent of whites said they were doing the wrong thing.
The Utah Jazz stand with their arms on their teammates’ shoulders during the playing of the anthem.
“We reject the premise that if you don’t stand for the national anthem, you’re not patriotic,” Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said earlier this year.
NFL athletes with Utah ties have taken a variety of approaches: Former Utah offensive lineman Garrett Bolles, now a rookie with the Denver Broncos, has stood during for the anthem while some of his teammates have knelt. Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy, a standout during his time at BYU, also chooses to stand.
But former Utah State lineman Donald Penn and former Southern Utah defensive end James Cowser, both of whom play for the Oakland Raiders, have sat with arms locked before games.
The Dan Jones poll surveyed 605 registered voters in Utah between Oct. 10 and 13. Its margin of error, plus or minus, is 3.98 percentage points.