In all honesty I don't know. Personal opinion, I think support of him swelled in the mountains when the national government started sending in the troops. It wasn't so much in support of what he did as it was they didn't cotton to the aspect that the FBI was rooting around in their woods
I think if the FBI hadn't made so big a case out of it and not invaded Western NC as they did, he probably would have been caught a long time before now.