Scans_Daily

The quoted text is talking about the publicity fallout from killing the character of Robin, not specifically about killing off Jason. Those are two different things

Not really. One is almost inherent to the other; you talk about the dead Robin, you're more often than not referring to Jason (*Stephanie never actually "died," she's also often referred to as the Girl Robin*).

And while absolutely the general public initially believed it was Dick Grayson who was killed, there were numerous newspaper articles confirming that it was not him in the ensuing days and weeks.

A St. Petersburg Times editorial certainly lambasted DC for the stunt. (And yes, the editorial does not refer to Robin as being Jason, however, they had done other articles on the death prior to this and after (see first link) and also note that "Sure, Robin struck a lot of people as a repugnant little twit, but is that a capital crime?" which shows they knew about some of the fans' distaste for Jason as Robin at the time. The Globe and Mail also did an editorial on it, as well, and they also note the phone-in poll. It is also written on Nov. 5, 1988, and by this time, newspaper outlets and other media were reporting that it was not Dick Grayson who had died (see Wall Street Journal article dated Oct. 16, 1988. And media outlets follow what other media outlets are doing as well -- I'm a journalist, I know this)

On top of that, the quoted text I provided is from a documentary specifically about Jason Todd as Robin and as the Red Hood on the Under the Red Hood Blu-Ray. So, one IS about the other.

They're seeing reactions from mainstream people who likely hadn't read a comic since they were 12.

Not entirely true. Yes, there was a LOT of fallout initially from people who didn't realise which Robin it was, but again, they were corrected by the media and by other sources. There were a lot of letters post-Jason's death and editorials -- in this NY Times article, it quotes a 36-year-old man who voted 10 times to save Robin, as well as knew who the character was (as the quoted person spoke specifically about A Death in the Family and its events, and not just calling to "save Robin" but to save Jason, as well.)
Here's a letters page from Batman 431 in which someone eulogizes Jason, but another reader who calls himself a "loyal reader" chastisizes DC editorial for doing the poll. As well, that particular letter writer says he didn't know about the poll until the Robin dies issue came out (added to that at least one advertisement that specifically was about saving Jason did not have a number attached to it to call)