Americans still widely support the Washington Redskins’ nickname, but that support has decreased in the past 21 years according to an Associated Press report Thursday that cites the results of an AP-GfK poll.
The survey indicates 79 percent of Americans favor keeping the “Redskins” name, which some American Indian groups, in particular, consider offensive. Eleven percent believe the name should be changed; 8 percent were unsure; and 2 percent didn’t answer, according to the report.
The last national poll on the subject showed 89 percent support of the name. That survey was conducted in 1992 by The Washington Post and ABC News, the AP reported.
Opponents of the name have spearheaded a legal challenge to strip the franchise of trademark protection for the Redskins name.
Losing such protection could have significantly negative financial consequences for the team, which opponents hope would prompt the club to change its nickname.
Redskins general manager Bruce Allen has insisted the team will not consider changing the nickname.
The AP-GfK, conducted April 11-15, included interviews with 1,004 adults. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points, according to the AP report.
Among nonwhite football fans, 18 percent said it should change, almost twice the percentage of white football fans who oppose the name, per the report.
The questions and results of the survey are available at https://www.ap-gfkpoll.com .
• Rich Campbell can be reached at rcampbell@washingtontimes.com.
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