Poll: Americans More Likely to Favor Keeping the Redskins Name

The NFL’s Washington franchise announced on Monday that it will change its “Redskins” name and logo after facing pressure from corporate sponsors, a decision that stands in opposition to roughly half of the public, according to new polling.

In a Morning Consult poll conducted July 7-9, days after the NFL team announced a formal review of its name, 49 percent of U.S. adults said the team should keep the Redskins moniker. By comparison, 29 percent of respondents said the team should change its name. Self-identified NFL fans reported similar feelings on the question.

Team owner Daniel Snyder has faced pressure from activists for years to change the name, but vowed in 2013 that it was a move he’d “never” make. After FedEx Corp., Bank of America Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and Nike Inc. all called for a name change this month, however, the organization changed its long-held stance. Snyder and head coach Ron Rivera will participate in developing the team’s new name, per the announcement.

The decision to change the name, which had been in place since 1933, is more likely to please younger fans: Generation Z adults were twice as likely to favor a name change than to oppose it. The youngest generation, however, is less likely than millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers to identify as NFL fans.