“I don’t think it is a problem. It’s used by haters to kind of push back against new ideas and ideas of equality and fairness.... There are terms that are abusive and you wouldn’t want anyone to use against you”
— 60-year-old man, Indiana, Progressive Activist
“I think that there are certain things that you can say or do that offend people, as far as being politically correct, but I also think that we have become a society that is offended at everything. There is a lot in today’s society that was never discussed before such as sexual orientation or gender fluidity that is kind of new and people don’t know how to handle that... and it is not so much that they are intentionally being disrespectful or offensive... It’s a combination of lack of knowledge and maybe oversensitivity.”
— 30-year-old woman, Indiana, Traditional Liberal.
“Why do we have this need in the US to call out people for appreciating a culture?... It’s becoming ridiculous.”
— 30-year-old woman, Arizona, Politically Disengaged
“I think it’s a quagmire. It’s so weird because... it’s a good thing to actually try and not offend anybody when you are speaking to them. It’s a good idea to try to respect other religions, cultures, and orientations.
At the same time, I do feel like sometimes we have pushed it down people’s throats to the point of nausea. Shouldn’t your agenda
be to further educate people? Wouldn’t that be the more proper way to spread that message?”
— 40-year-old man, Chicago, Moderate
“I define it as lying. Not saying what you really think. It really hurts everybody. This is why I said I am a big fan of Trump, because he is not politically correct.
I think political correctness is really damaging. I think under the guise of being nice or friendly, you’re not really telling what you really think. That’s not helpful.”
— 43-year-old man, New York, Traditional Conservative