‘Woke’: What does it really mean?

Republicans have made opposition to “woke” ideology “a cornerstone of their political agenda,” said Sarah Posner in MSNBC.com. But that narrow, culture-war focus could backfire, leaving them “out of touch” with most Americans. A USA Today/Ipsos poll released last week offered two definitions of “woke,” and 56 percent of respondents chose the positive one: “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” Only 39 percent picked “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” The term originated in the Black community to refer to awareness of racial injustice, but the Right has turned it into a catch-all insult for any progressive idea. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has even imposed “authoritarian book bans and speech codes” to make his state the place “where woke goes to die.” But this poll suggests that beyond the GOP base, “the message falls flat.”

The poll results are more ambiguous than that, said Philip Bump in The Washington Post. When asked how they’d take being called “woke” themselves, a plurality of respondents viewed it more “as an insult than a compliment.” Democrats may prefer the positive connotations, but Republicans associate the word with “social justice warriors” who advocate racial “equity” policies they view “as entirely unacceptable.” Voters may be conflicted on the exact definition of “woke,” said Noah Rothman in National Review, but they’re smart enough to “know it when they see it.” It means believing that racial and gender identities define us, and that systemic injustice can only be addressed with “otherworldly speech codes,” wealth redistribution, and “programs of re-education.” Wokeness is “revolutionary,” and when its meaning is made specific and concrete, most voters are repulsed.

That’s true, said Matt Lewis in The Daily Beast.

In recent polls, most Americans oppose the use of gender-neutral pronouns and treatment of trans teens with puberty blockers and hormones. A majority blames “woke” politicians for the increase in crime. But at the same time, a majority is not comfortable with the aggressive “anti-woke” policies of politicians such as DeSantis. Fully 76 percent—including “a whopping 66 percent” of Republicans—oppose state bans on books in schools, and 66 percent oppose bans on employee diversity training. “People don’t want to be shamed or canceled by the woke mob,” but they also don’t want “the heavy hand of the government” telling people what they can say and do.