Some observers have suggested that Democrats' approach to social justice issues — and more particularly the language surrounding them — is at least partially responsible for Donald Trump's win against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. One recent YouGov survey found that a majority of Americans (57%) say that political correctness or being "woke" played a very or somewhat important role in the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
But how familiar are Americans with this type of terminology — which has been classified at various points as woke, politically correct, social-justice-oriented, or related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)? (For the purposes of this article, we will use the description of social justice terms.) In a new survey, we investigate this question, asking Americans whether they use, know about, or have heard of 30 social-justice-oriented terms — many of them relatively new and associated with current political movements, and some older though still parts of certain kinds of political discourse.
The results show that many headline-grabbing social-justice-oriented words and phrases are not part of most Americans' everyday vocabularies. Among the 30 terms included in the survey, the one that Americans most often say they use regularly — safe space — is only used often by one in five (20%). Other terms included that Americans are most likely to say they regularly use are woke (19%), lived experience (16%), white privilege (15%), and body positivity (15%). Fewer than 15% of Americans say they frequently use each of the other 25 terms asked about.
Even if particular social justice terms aren't widely used by the public, they could still have important political implications. And while the terms we asked about aren't often spoken by Americans, 16 out of the 30 terms are known by a majority of Americans. Or looking at it another way, on average, Americans know 16 of the 30 terms and 92% know at least one. And majorities say they have at least heard of 27 of the terms, counting people who know the terms without knowing the meanings. The least recognized terms are heteronormativity, misogynoir, and BIPOC: Fewer than half say they've heard of each.
Regular use of social-justice-oriented language is more common among Democrats than among Republicans. But that doesn't mean that most Democrats regularly use any of the terms. None of the 30 terms included in the survey are frequently used by even one-third of Democrats. The largest shares of Democrats — 26% — say they regularly use the terms safe space or white privilege.
Of the terms included in the survey, Republicans are most likely to say they regularly use the terms woke (17% say they do) and safe space (17%); only slightly more Democrats (23%) than Republicans say they often use the term woke. Many of the least commonly used terms — including Latinx, intersectionality, and restorative justice — are used by small shares of both Democrats and Republicans (fewer than 9% of each group uses these terms).
Americans' use of social justice language varies by age, education, and race. Most terms included in the survey are more often used by younger adults than by older ones. And Americans with a college degree are more likely than people without a degree to use the terms frequently. While the sample sizes of Black and Hispanic Americans in the survey are relatively small, there are some significant racial and ethnic differences. For example, compared to white Americans, Black Americans are more likely to say they regularly use the terms safe space, white privilege, and body positivity.
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and David Montgomery contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted November 13 - 15, 2024 among 1,164 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
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