90 percent of Native Americans say the Redskins name doesn't bother them, poll reveals

(Image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

published 19 May 2016

Contrary to widespread concerns about the offensiveness of the Washington Redskins name, a new poll out Thursday finds that 9 out of 10 Native Americans say the NFL team's moniker "does not bother them" at all. While the general public sees the word "Redskin" as a slur, after reaching out to 504 Native Americans in every state over a five-month period, the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that the word wasn't all that offensive to many Native Americans. More than 7 in 10 Native Americans said they didn't feel the word was disrespectful to them, and 8 in 10 said they would not be offended if a non-native used that word to address them.

The poll's results will likely make the push to change the team's name that much harder, The Washington Post contends, and could even impact the fight over the team's federal trademark registrations and the location of its next stadium. Since the battle over the team's name reignited in 2013, President Obama, 50 Democratic U.S. senators, dozens of sports broadcasters and columnists, and a civil rights organization have all called for the name to be changed.

But some Native Americans, the poll found, were even fond of the team's name. "I'm proud of being Native American and of the Redskins," Barbara Bruce, a Chippewa teacher who lives on a North Dakota reservation, told The Washington Post. "I'm not ashamed of that at all. I like that name."