Despite a concerted “national movement to change the football team’s moniker,” a new poll finds that 90 percent of Native American respondents said it “does not bother” them that the NFL’s Washington football franchise is nicknamed the Redskins.

Activists have sometimes compared “redskin” to racial slurs for other ethnic groups. The poll, by the Washington Post, however finds that some 80 percent of poll respondents “said they would not be offended if a non-native called them that name.”

“The results could make it that much harder for anti-name activists’ to pressure team officials, who will almost certainly use the poll as further justification to retain the moniker,” said Post reporters John Woodrow Cox, Scott Clement and Theresa Vargas.

While both Native Americans and D.C. area football fans may have little problem with the name, some local journalists are another story. The Post’s editorial board has not only repeatedly called for the name to be changed, in 2014 it informed readers that “except when it is essential for clarity or effect, we will no longer use the slur ourselves.”

In February 2013, longtime D.C. news anchor Jim Vance delivered an on-air commentary in which he said bluntly “the name sucks” and suggested it be changed to the Washington “Warriors.” Mr. Vance also explained that he had a personal policy of not uttering the name on air and had yet to receive a complaint from any viewers who demanded he say the word.

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