As much controversy as the Washington Redskins name has brought in recent times, a new poll showing that most people are actually in favor of keeping the name may surprise you. The results will be shown tonight on ESPN’s Outside The Lines.
A poll conducted by Langer Research for tonight’s special found 71% of respondents favor keeping the name and 23% think it should be changed, up from 8% who favored change in 1992. The poll of 1,019 Americans was conducted by phone last month.
“Back in 1992, when about nine in 10 Americans opposed changing the team’s name, opinion was basically uniform across groups,” Langer Research said. “The increase since then in support for a change has occurred chiefly among Democrats, younger adults, those living in the Northeast and West, and people with higher incomes and more education.”
It’s not just the American public either. A poll of 286 NFL players showed that 58% wanted to keep the name as opposed to 42% who said it should be changed. A proper gauge couldn’t be found from the Redskins players. 26 said no to changing the name, 1 said it should be and 24 opted not to answer. It would be interested to see what the other 24 really thought.
However, this poll doesn’t tell the amount of responses that actually came from Native Americans. The fact is the Native Americans are a minority population, and the Redskins name affects them. This poll speaks nothing to the population of people who the name is directly offensive to. It’s easy for someone who isn’t of Native American descent to say that the name doesn’t offend them. However, the non-Native American population can’t speak on what would be offensive to a Native American.
Unless these polls show responses based on ethnicity, then the data is irrelevant in the case of what is offensive.
[h/t USA Today]