Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been celebrated on the second Monday in October in cities and states across the U.S. since 1992. The day originally was created as a protest against Columbus Day, and as a result most states and cities recognize it on the same day — the second Monday in October. YouGov conducted a nationally representative survey gathering American adults’ thoughts about the role of Indigenous people in U.S. history and the celebration of and support for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Many Americans approve of celebrating such a day and of its federal observance, but fewer approve of its place on the calendar. And most have little familiarity with it.

Support for Indigenous Peoples' Day Reflects Recognition of Indigenous Contributions

The vast majority of Americans consider Indigenous people to be important to the history of the United States — including 54% who say they are very important to American history. Older Americans are especially likely to view Indigenous people as very important: 60% of those 45 and older do, compared to 47% of younger adults. Democrats are slightly more likely to view Indigenous people as very important to U.S. history (64%) than are Independents (49%) and Republicans (50%). But strong majorities in all three groups view Indigenous people as important to history (90%, 82%, and 86%, respectively).

In addition to believing that Indigenous people have been historically important, most Americans view Indigenous people as having made mostly positive contributions to the U.S., indicating support for Indigenous Peoples' Day. A majority of Americans (56%) believe Indigenous people have had a mostly or completely positive impact on the U.S., while only 5% believe their impact has been mostly or completely negative. This attitude is held by majorities of all major age groups, although older Americans are more likely to see Indigenous people’s impact as both positive and negative than younger Americans — 35% of those 65 and older, compared to 23% of adults under 30. There is a greater divide on this question across political lines. While 70% of Democrats view Indigenous people’s impact as mostly or completely positive, only 48% of Republicans feel the same way. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to view Indigenous people’s impact as both positive and negative (38% vs. 20%). However, those who think Indigenous people had a mostly or completely negative impact make up a small minority of both groups: 8% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats.

Read the full article about support for Indigenous Peoples’ Day by Alexander Rossell Hayes at YouGov.