90 percent of Native Americans aren’t bothered by the Washington Redskins football team name, according to a new poll.
In fact, only 9 percent interviewed for the Washington Post poll find the name offensive. 73 percent of those polled said they don’t find the term “Redskin” offensive to Native Americans, while 80 percent said they wouldn’t be offended if a non-Native American used that term to their face. 91 percent said they were “not at all” or “not too much” bothered by the use of Native American imagery in sports.
54 percent said that the issue of the Redskins’ name is not important to them personally, while 10 percent said the issue is “very important.”
The poll was conducted between Dec. 16 and April 12 among a random sample of 504 Native American adults.
The NFL team has been battling against critics and even politicians campaigning for it to change its name from what they perceive to be an offensive slur against Native Americans.
Despite repeated criticism, Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has refused to change the team’s name, which he contends honors Native Americans. That conflicts with a letter signed by half of the U.S. Senate and criticism by President Barack Obama, along with opposition from numerous civil rights organizations.
In October, California became the first state to ban the use of the name “Redskins” for all public school sports teams.