President Trump has been on a mission to conflate the NFL national anthem protests with a lack patriotism, despite the actual reasons for the protests which is police violence and racism.

Other critics have mirrored Trump attitutude toward taking a knee; some accused protesting players of being unpatriotic.

However, a new Quinnipiac University survey found that most Americans don't actually consider players who protest  unpatriotic.

In fact, according to the New York Post, 58 percent of Americans believe NFL players who participated in the #TakeAKnee protests are patriotic; 35 percent of Americans thought the opposite. 

When these Americans were surveyed based on their political affiliation, the numbers told a different and more predictable story. 70 percent of Republican voters believed the protesters were unpatriotic.

In general, 53 percent of voters believed professional players had a right to protest on the field or court.

When things were broken down by race, 85 percent of black voters said athletes have the right to protest, with 67 percent of Latinx voters saying the same.

53 percent of white voters said players have the right to protest.

The voters also chimed in regarding the new NFL policy stating players can take a knee only in the locker room, with 51 percent supporting the policy and 42 percent against it. 

“Voters are clearly torn on the national anthem issue. They seem to be saying, ‘You can still love your country and kneel during its anthem,’ but the NFL’s new ‘must stand’ mandate is fine with them, too,” noted Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll. “As for teams that defy the new rule, Americans say, ‘Don’t throw a flag on them.’”