Our polling did not go well for the White Sox powers-that-be
Which wasn’t really a huge surprise
It has been a week since we posted a series of poll questions dealing with the alleged leak of Jerry Reinsdorf possibly selling the White Sox, and with a few hundred votes in, there’s unlikely to be a change in any of the outcomes, so let’s take a look at what we ended up with.
The serious questions are the most important to learn about, of course, but one very interesting outcome on a frivolous query dealt with where people thought famously tax-averse Jerry Reinsdorf should move in order to avoid Illinois’ 16% estate levy. The big winner, with almost twice as many votes as runner-up Ulan Bator, was Pitcairn Island, thereby revealing a hitherto undocumented crossover between fans of the White Sox and of Mutiny on the Bounty. Or maybe Pitcairn just seemed like the place from which he could do the least damage.
As for the more serious questions, it’s important to note both that self-selecting polls have weaknesses and that this poll is bound to be very heavily weighted toward not just White Sox fans, but the more ardent sort of White Sox fans who follow a site like South Side Sox. It’s logical that such folks would be more apt to support public spending for a new Sox stadium than your typical taxpayers, which means these results really, really mean Reinsdorf and his co-conspirator billionaires might as well just shelve the idea of grabbing lucre from the public coffers.
First off, there’s the matter of trust. By a 10-to-1 ratio respondents said they don’t believe anything Reinsdorf ever says, particularly with regard to selling or moving the Sox, since that’s what the question was about. Eight percent say they believe him, which, in fairness, is a whole lot more than the 3% who believe MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is ever looking out for anyone except billionaire team owners.
Only 2% believe the figures the gruesome threesome of billionaires have provided that promise huge benefits to the people of the city and area, with the vast majority saying the whole project should just be chalked up as a giant loss for the public. And remember, those are bound to be votes of Sox fans.
As for how much “skin in the game,” as Mayor Brandon Johnson put it, Reinsdorf et al. should have to put up for the proposed monument to themselves, the voters were surprisingly generous — only 46% said the entire cost, with another 33% opting for 75% or more. That would seem to leave room for some public funding — but only until you get to another of the questions.
Any officeholders thinking handing public cash to the billionaires is a good idea for personal professional well being should note that the ratio of those who would definitely vote against a politician who voted public money for a White Sox stadium to those who would support them was more than 8-to-1. Again — these votes are bound to be coming mostly from White Sox fans. Someone might want to pass the word to Johnson and the alderpersons.
And if politicians are dumb enough to do the funding, 86% of those voting want corporate and personal guarantees from the terrible trio — Reinsdorf, developer Related Companies chairman Stephen M. Ross and landowner and convicted fraudster (in France) Nadhmi Shakir Auchi — and, given their ages, their heirs and assigns, to pay off all costs and bonds rather than make any cuts in city services.
A lot of stadium funding proposals actually do go before pertinent voters, so we asked how our voters think real voters would respond. More than two-thirds said the idea would garner less than 10% of the vote, with another 18% saying 10-25%. Be interesting to see the billionaires push to give that a try.
There was also a question about what city services the voters think should be cut if money is handed over for a new White Sox stadium, and they were surprisingly anti-child — almost half said to put a fifth of city students on the streets instead of cutting other city services, like police, fire or streets. Sorry, kids — but don’t worry, it shouldn’t come to pass.
Back to frivolous questions, the poll included a query about favored possible White Sox owners in the event of a sale. In that one Berkshire Hathaway honcho Warren Buffett edged out a combination of Barack Obama and Michael Jordan, who in turned edged out a big group of show biz star Sox fans. Dead last, way, way behind with only 4% of the vote — Tony La Russa BFF Dave Stewart, the only one mentioned in the rumors as an actual possibility.
Thanks to all who participated, and if any of you have the ear or the mayor or city council members, you might drop them a result or two.