Growing number of Americans  support 'racial equality' and 'liberal' ideas — even as they reject 'language of wokeness'

A growing number of Americans are big on 'racial equality' and 'liberal' ideas — even if they reject the 'language of wokeness': report

MAGA Republicans at Fox News aren't the only ones bashing "woke" terminology. "Real Time" host Bill Maher, a liberal with a libertarian streak and a major disdain for political correctness, has often argued that "wokeness" hurts the liberal/progressive cause — a view shared by veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, who has warned that Democratic candidates put themselves at a disadvantage when they use terms like "Latinx." And some Latino progressives absolutely detest the term "Latinx," as it is typically used by non-Latinos who don't speak Spanish, Portuguese or Italian and have no idea how those languages work.

But the Atlantic/Ledger survey, according to Khazan, finds that many college graduates and non-college-educated Americans like the ideas of liberalism even if they can't stand terms like "Latinx."

"Overeducated people are ruining political discourse by embracing 'woke' language — if you pay attention to modern fights about language and social justice, you've probably heard some version of this complaint," Khazan explains. "The Democratic patriarch James Carville has bemoaned the idea of 'people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges' coming up with 'a word like Latinx that no one else uses.' John McWhorter, the linguist, Atlantic contributor, and author of 'Woke Racism,' has asserted that 'everybody is afraid of being called a racist on Twitter by articulate, over-educated people.'"

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Khazan continues, "The Economist recently defined wokeness as 'a loose constellation of ideas that is changing the way that mostly white, educated, left-leaning Americans view the world.' The thinking, or at least the impression, is that normal people who care about bread-and-butter economic issues go to college and pop out not caring about bread or butter, but instead, worrying about gender pronouns and cultural appropriation. According to these sorts of arguments, people who never go to college stay reasonable, normal, or — depending on how you look at it — asleep."

Khazan goes on to explain how the Atlantic/Leger poll was set up.

"For the poll, Leger surveyed a representative sample of 1002 American adults from October 22 to October 24," Khazan notes. "We asked for respondents' agreements with various statements…. that are often invoked by conservatives and moderates as being associated with people who are 'woke.' The results showed that there was no significant difference between people with college degrees and those without them on the question of whether America is becoming too politically correct; slight majorities of both groups agreed somewhat or strongly. The same was true for believing 'cancel culture is a big problem in society' — 51% of degree holders agreed, as did 45% of those without degrees."

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The survey asked participants whether they agreed or disagreed that "Latinx, rather than Latino or Hispanic, is the best way to address Americans whose family origin is Latin America." Only 14% agreed.

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But regardless of how one feels about "woke" language, Khazan finds that there is a growing appetite for liberal and progressive ideas in the United States. According to Khazan, "Though the flashiest elements of 'wokeness' might not seem very popular, the good news is that Americans are embracing racial justice more and more."

John Sides, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University, told Khazan, "Americans' broader views of race, racism, immigration and other topics have become more liberal. Relative to ten years ago, more Americans think that immigration is good. More Americans think that racial inequality stems from structural factors like discrimination, not from Black Americans' lack of effort.'"

Khazan, in response, writes, "That suggests many Americans generally endorse the idea of racial equality, even if they don't always like the language used to describe it."