Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”
“crowds” = “people” (KJV) is plural, “peoples.” There were many large groups in dispute over Jesus. As Morris points out, “It is apparent that His ministry is having an effect. The people are divided.” (401) Note (Mt 10:34-36).
Mt 10:34-36 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
The crowd is the uninformed majority of the population who want to do what is right but are not sure what that is.
“good man” = Jesus is much more than a man as Napoleon noted when he said, “I know men, and Jesus Christ is more than a man.”