FanPulse: Patriots have the least confident fanbase in the AFC East

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Patriots fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

The New England Patriots are sitting at 1-2 heading into tomorrow’s meeting against the 3-0 Miami Dolphins. Safe to say, things have not gone smoothly for the most successful team of this century over the first three weeks of the season: the defense has struggled two games in a row, while the offense has not been able to get into any consistent rhythm.

The Patriots’ recent struggles are reflected in the confidence score of our weekly FanPulse survey. While 90% of fans were confident about the direction of the franchise entering week one, this number dipped to 87% one week later (despite New England’s opening day win) and down 76% after the 31-20 week two loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After the recent 26-10 loss against the Detroit Lions, only 31% of fans participating in the survey said that they still feel confident in the direction the team is moving. This places New England’s fanbase among the least confident in the entire NFL – only six are less confident in their respective teams – and at the bottom of the AFC East:

Miami Dolphins: 86%

Buffalo Bills: 73%

New York Jets: 43%

New England Patriots: 31%

Despite the low confidence score, Patriots fans have not given up hope that the team defeats Miami tomorrow. According to the result of this week’s survey, New England’s followers think the team will win tomorrow with a three-point difference. For comparison, the Dolphins’ followers believe that their team will win on Sunday by two points.