A nationwide poll that surveyed a cross-section of sports fans and Indians in general has revealed a startling finding:

The majority of American Indians polled have no problem with the use of Indian nicknames and symbols and said professional teams shouldn't stop using them.

Further, most Native Americans surveyed didn't even object to the Washington football team's name, Redskins, a moniker many regard as a racial slur.

The poll, commissioned by Sports Illustrated and published in its March 4 edition, was conducted by the Peter Harris Research Group, which interviewed Native Americans living on and off reservations as well as non-Indian fans. Responses were weighted according to U.S. census figures for age, race and gender.

In other words, this wasn't some high school class project, nor one of those surveys deliberately skewed to achieve desired findings. Attacking the messengers - and their methodology - would be futile for anti-nickname activists, who have been dealt a large blow.

For years, the campaign against Indian nicknames and mascots has presumed their usages offend Indians. But according to the poll, the consensus falls in the opposite direction:

• 83 percent of Indians, and 79 percent of fans, said pro teams should not stop using Indian nicknames, mascots and symbols.
• 75 percent of Indians, and 88 percent of fans, said use of the names and symbols does not contribute to discrimination against Indians.
• Asked if high school and college teams should stop using Indian nicknames, 81 percent of Native American respondents said no.

The latter has already happened, with Native American activist Suzan Harjo dismissing the majority's opinion by telling the magazine, ``There are happy campers on every plantation.''

This, of course, is stereotyping in itself - the implication that most Native Americans simply don't possess the self-esteem and smarts required to be insulted by teams naming themselves after indigenous peoples.

Then again, infighting on this complex issue is nothing new. Though more than 600 schools and minor league teams since 1969 have dropped Indian nicknames some deem offensive, they not only persist but, in some instances, have been sanctioned by Native Americans.

Florida State University uses the name Seminoles for its teams with the approval of the Seminole nation. And several years ago, the University of Utah offered to drop the nickname Running Utes, and its eagle-feathers-and-drum logo, if the tribe found them objectionable. It did not, provided that they be used in a positive manner.

That last point goes the crux of the issue. Names and symbols per se are usually not the problem. It's the attendant behavior by fans, and the cartoonish antics of mascots, that Native Americans have rightly found objectionable.

But even on that point, there is anything but mass disapproval.

Asked what they thought of the tomahawk chop arm motion performed by fans at Atlanta Braves games, 23 percent of Indians polled found it objectionable, while 48 percent didn't care and 28 percent said they liked it.