A couple weeks back, in a post attempting to explain why the graduate assistant who allegedly witnessed the infamous Penn State child rape probably felt he was doing the right thing by reporting the incident to legendary head coach Joe Paterno rather than, say, the police, I tried to explain to readers here the oversized status of Paterno back in my native Pennsylvania:

It's fair to say that year-in, year-out, Paterno has been one of the best known and most highly respected men in the entire state of Pennyslvania, more popular and more trusted than any politician, businessman, or celebrity.

And it turns out that even after weeks of scandalous headlines and his own firing, a new PPP poll shows that Paterno is still more popular than any PA politician:

51% of voters in the state view Paterno favorably to 28% with an unfavorable opinion. With all the recent controversy those are still far better numbers than any politician in the state can boast. Every demographic group PPP tracks continues to have a positive take on Paterno.

Of course, those results are at least partially a commentary on the awfully low opinion most people currently have about the generally awful politicians in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation. But it also speaks to the enormous level of admiration and respect Paterno earned during the half century or so in which he ran one of the cleanest and most successful (both academically and athletically) football programs in the nation. You know, apart from the alleged covering-up-for-a-child-rapist thing.

As for the alleged child-ass-fucker himself, only three percent of respondents have a positive opinion of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky... which raises some serious questions about the morality/mental health of three percent of Pennsylvanians.