Poll: One-third of voters identify as ‘woke’

One-third of voters identify as ‘woke’, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.

Thirty-two percent of registered voters in the July 8-9 survey said they see themselves as woke to the extent that they understand the term.

Twenty-three percent of respondents said they do not identify as woke while 13 percent said they are unsure.

Thirty-one percent of voters said they don’t know what the term “woke” means.

“Woke” generally refers to someone who is aware of social issues such as racial prejudice and discrimination. It has increasingly become a divisive word in political circles, with conservatives belittling “woke” progressives.

In the new poll, however, many more people familiar with the term thought it was a good thing than a bad thing.

Thirty-eight percent of voters said being woke is a good thing while 21 percent said it is a bad thing, specifically.

Forty-one percent of respondents said it is neither.

Roughly 60 percent of Democrats said being woke is a good thing while 5 percent said it’s a bad thing and 37 percent said it’s neither.

Twenty-percent of Republican respondents said it is a good thing while 39 percent said being woke is a bad thing and 41 percent said it’s neither.

Thirty-six percent of independents said being woke is a good thing while 19 percent said it’s a bad thing. Forty-six percent said it is neither.

The survey found voters were split on whether wokeness is helping the country evolve and develop for the better or whether it is stoking differences and causing social and political unrest.

Fifty-percent of voters said woeness is helping the country evolve and develop for the better while another 50 percent said it is stoking differences and causing social and political unrest.

Seventy-two percent of Republican voters said wokeness is stoking differences and causing social and political unrest.

By contrast, 70 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents said it is helping the country evolve and develop for the better.

The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 938 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

—Gabriela Schulte