--- ---  # Most Americans Disagree With Trump on Firing NFL Players Who Take a Knee by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 2, 2017 5:40 PM UTC  Football players Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs is seen taking a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on September 24, 2017 in Carson, California. Football players Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs is seen taking a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on September 24, 2017 in Carson, California.Sean M. Haffey—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 2, 2017 5:40 PM UTC More than two-thirds of registered voters said in a recent poll that President Trump was wrong to say that NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem should be fired. In [a USA Today/Suffolk University poll](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/02/usa-today-poll-americans-say-trump-wrong-nfl-protests/721809001/) released Monday, 68% of respondents said that Trump’s [call for NFL owners](http://time.com/4960638/donald-trump-latest-battle-against-nfl/) to fire the players and fans to boycott their games was inappropriate. Only 27% said it was appropriate. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914255264282480640) Respondents were not as enthusiastic about the actual protests, though a majority still supported them: 51% said they were appropriate, while 42% said they were not. The poll of 1,000 registered voters was taken Wednesday through Sunday by landline and cell phone. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Poll: Most Americans Disagree With Trump on NFL Protests ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4965224/donald-trump-nfl-protests-polling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4965224/donald-trump-nfl-protests-polling/"},"headline":"Most Americans Disagree With Trump on Firing NFL Players Who Take a Knee","datePublished":"2017-10-02T17:40:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:41:16.315Z","description":"According to a new poll","url":"https://time.com/4965224/donald-trump-nfl-protests-polling/","keywords":["Donald Trump","NFL","protests","Polling","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e69c586a424aed7/6988e0250a4a22333f9d0251/nfl-protests-donald-trump-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e69c586a424aed7/6988e0250a4a22333f9d0251/nfl-protests-donald-trump-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump NFL Protests","caption":"Donald Trump NFL Protests","creditText":"Sean M. Haffey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4965224/donald-trump-nfl-protests-polling/","name":"Most Americans Disagree With Trump on Firing NFL Players Who Take a Knee"}}]}] ```