Polls Suggest Majority of Native American are PROUD of Washington Redskins’ Name

Fact checked
Leftists have been up in arms about the Washington Redskins' name for years, but polls suggest that the majority of Native Americans are not offended by the name, with many actually feeling "pride."

Leftists have been up in arms about the Washington Redskins’ name for years, accusing the NFL outfit of racism and offensiveness, and now the Redskins have released a statement saying the team would be conducting a “thorough review” of their name.

But how to Native Americans really feel about the Redskins’ name? You might be surprised.

While polls on the matter suggest the issue is polarizing, there is no consensus to suggest Native Americans are offended by the Washington Redskins’ name, and many polls point to “pride” as the dominant reaction to the name.

The best-known survey is a 2016 Washington Post poll that found a whopping 9 out 10 Native Americans do not find the “Redskins” name offensive.

WesternJournal report: The poll asked a random national sample of 504 Native American adults and was conducted via phone interviews. The margin of error was 5.5 percentage points.

According to The Post, the 2016 poll found similar results to a 2004 poll conducted by Annenberg Public Policy Center.

It’s now 2020 and quite a bit has changed in the social landscape. It’s a year where leftists consider it offensive to stand for the American flag, two separate anthems will be played before NFL games for the sake of “unity,” and you’re not allowed to support the president of the United States.

A more recent survey, conducted by “market research organization” Wolvereye in 2019, along with “two other prominent research companies,” interviewed 500 people who self-identified as Native American. The method of interviewing and margins of error were not disclosed.

The Wolvereye survey took a more human approach to their survey. Instead of asking whether a person was offended by “Redskins,” it delved into what it called “emotional DNA” and asked for specific feelings on the team’s name.

The Post and the Annenberg poll both asked: “The professional football team in Washington calls itself the Washington Redskins. As a Native American, do you find that name offensive, or doesn’t it bother you?

The Wolvereye survey instead presented interviewees with 40 options that included feelings such as “proud,” “love” and “fear.”

The findings were fascinating.

The most common emotion the survey takers cited when asked about how they felt about Redskins’ name was “proud.” The next most common was “indifferent.”

In fact, of the top five most common emotions, three of them were categorized as “positive.” That list includes the aforementioned “proud,” “content” and “satisfied.”

The only negative emotion to crack the top five was merely “annoyed.” That sure seems like a far cry from the deeply wounded emotions that detractors of the name would have you think Native Americans feel about it.

To complete the trifecta, there’s a University of California, Berkeley study published in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science in March.

UC Berkeley researchers said they recruited “1,000 self-identified adult Native Americans” across 50 states and representing 148 tribes using the Qualtrics online survey platform.

The study found that 49 percent of participants strongly agreed or agreed that the Redskins team name was offensive. 38 percent were not bothered by it. The rest of the participants were indifferent.

Yet again, 49 percent comes nowhere near constituting a consensus. It’s not even half.

Which is all to say, whether you want to analyze a poll, a survey or a study, the notion that “Redskins” is a horribly racist and hurtful team name is hardly the slam dunk that some would have you believe.

Is wiping out 87 years of NFL tradition really necessary to possibly placate, at most, half of the allegedly aggrieved?

In any other year, probably not. But it’s 2020, and this may very well be the new norm.

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry is a writer at The People's Voice. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear.
Email: baxter@thepeoplesvoice.tv
Baxter Dmitry

5 Comments

  1. Nothing offensive about this, the Indians themselves are proud of their heritage find something else to bi tch about please.

  2. The hysterical Idiocracy are going after the Cleveland Indians as well.. What a wasteland of history, culture and even diversity will we have when they succeed.

  3. doesn’t surprise me. Liberals and BLM trying too hard. No thanks. Next they will try banning notre dame Fighting Irish, Mafia movies that make Italians look bad. take a knee…or else you’re RACIST !!! no thanks.

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