Republican Rep. of Indiana Jim Banks dismissed the recent polling results on the term “woke” in an interview published Friday.
A recent poll of the term showed that most Americans do not view the word in a negative connotation. According to polling by USA Today/Ipsos, 56% of Americans believe woke means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” Thirty-nine percent believe the term means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.”
However, that doesn’t mean that people want to be called woke. The same polls shows that Americans are split on whether the term is an insult or compliment, with 40% saying it’s an insult and 32% saying it’s a compliment.
Banks, who sits as the leader of the House “Anti-Woke Caucus,” told Semafor on Friday he believes the recent poll results do not reflect the sentiment he sees reflected from his constituents.
Woke propaganda like Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project have no place in our education system.
I am 100% against the Left’s attempts to infiltrate our schools and indoctrinate our children. pic.twitter.com/KcT41lzi2o
— Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) March 10, 2023
“It doesn’t take a poll to know my constituency,” he told the outlet.
Banks said in the interview the term woke runs contrary to the concept of the “American Dream” and colorblindness values espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also linked the ideology to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government, including the military.
“What is the cost-benefit analysis of a chief diversity officer at the National Institute of Health or the Pentagon or Department of Interior? What does that mean? What does that look like? I don’t know,” he told the outlet.
Banks founded the “Anti-Woke Caucus” in January, with the purpose of eradicating the ideology from the federal government. In January, Banks called for the elimination of Executive Order 13985, which would force federal agencies to produce an “Equity Action Plan.” He also called for the defunding of the ideology from the Department of Defense and higher education and additional scrutiny of “woke” corporations.