Miller Park receives strong poll results.

Byline: Don Walker

Polling commissioned by Major League Baseball and released Sunday shows residents statewide support overwhelmingly the construction of Miller Park, and believe it will have a positive impact on the community.

The poll indicates that residents throughout the state have a sense of ownership about Miller Park, and that support for the stadium grew as work progressed on the park.

That is a point not lost on the league, which hopes to use the avalanche of data gleaned from the Wisconsin survey and a similar one conducted in the Pittsburgh area to argue that, despite initial political opposition to new stadiums in other major-league markets, communities will embrace and celebrate a new ballpark as a communal gathering place and as a place that promotes economic growth. Pittsburgh was surveyed because the Pirates opened PNC Park this year.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who set in motion years ago a comprehensive strategy for how Major League Baseball should deal with ongoing ballpark issues, said the Wisconsin polling results, some of which date back to 1996, would be used as a textbook for other clubs and perhaps other sports.

"We are going to take this file and go to St. Louis and Florida and other places," Selig said.

Selig and his pollsters were encouraged by the responses to one key …