Poll: Native Americans Don't Mind Washington Redskins Name

A new Washington Post poll found that 90 percent of Native Americans aren't offended by the Washington Redskins' nickname and an overwhelming majority consider it an unimportant issue.

The Post polled 504 people who identify primarily as Native American from across the country, including those who lived on reservations and those who were not part of a tribe.

The general population appears to care more about the name than Native Americans. A 2014 ESPN poll found that 23 percent of the population favored a name change.

Thursday's findings by the Post match an Annenberg Center survey taken in 2004. The Post poll also found that 78 percent deemed the Redskins' name an issue that is either "not too" or "not at all" important.

Suzan Harjo, the lead plaintiff challenging the team's trademark protections, rejected the new results, saying it was an invalid way to surveying those in Indian country.

"I don't accept self-identification," Harjo told the Post. "People say they're native, and they are not native, for all sorts of reasons. Those of us who are leaders in Indian Country ... know who we are representing. We also know if we are representing a minority view. And this is not the case here. Our experience is completely the opposite of the Annenberg poll and this one. I just reject the whole thing."

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