The Chargers are committed to staying in San Diego. San Diego is still not committed to keeping the Chargers.
Via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com, a pair of polls funded by the Chargers show public support for taxpayer funding of at least $375 million to be in the neighborhood of roughly 33 percent.
As Williams notes, those outcomes mesh with a recent poll conducted by the San Diego Union-Tribune and the local ABC affiliate, which generated 36-percent support for using $350 million in taxpayer contributions toward a new Chargers venue.
Another poll, which was taken as part of the city’s official proposal to the NFL submitted in December 2015, showed 51-percent approval, but the question in that poll was crafted to point out that a third of the stadium cost would come from public funds, and that no new taxes would be used to generate the amount.
The different outcomes aren’t surprising; poll results always hinge on how the question is asked. The concept of “push” polling routinely is used by politicians as a way not to honestly gauge public opinion but to frame the question in a way that influences those who answer it.
San Diego’s poll probably wasn’t aimed at influencing voters as much as it was aimed at creating the impression that the team, not the city, should bear the blame if the Chargers move to L.A. The polls funded by the Chargers presumably were aimed at getting a baseline reading as to where the mindset of the public currently is before embarking on what appears to be a genuine effort to try to generate enough support to ensure that a majority of those who show up to vote in November will choose to approve a significant public contribution aimed at keeping the Chargers from leaving.
Ultimately, it all may come down to how the question is written on the official ballot.