Are Americans too politically correct?

If you think this country is too politically correct and it has become a problem you have a lot of company. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Friday revealed the majority of Americans felt this nation is too PC and that sentiment was across-the-board.

“We asked, please tell me if you agree or disagree with this statement: A big problem this country has is being politically correct. Sixty-eight of people agree with that statement,” said Krista Jenkins, professor of political science at FDU and director of PublicMind.

The majority of Americans in every category agreed the nation is too politically correct. Here are the findings (by percentage):

• Republicans (81 percent)
• Democrats (62 percent)
• Independents (68 percent)
• Men (67 percent)
• Women (69 percent)
• Under 50 (67 percent)
• 50+ (70 percent)

“People do believe that there’s too much political correctness in American society and it doesn’t really matter where you’re coming from. Partisanship, sex, age, people pretty much evaluate it the same way,” Jenkins said.

The poll also threw respondents a curve ball by linking a separate question to presidential candidate Donald Trump. They were reminded that Trump recently told a TV news anchor that the country is too politically correct and then asked if they agreed with him. The number dropped from 68 percent to 53 percent when Trump’s name was invoked.

“When Donald Trump told Megyn Kelly that political correctness was a big problem in response to her question about his disparaging commentary toward women, the audience erupted in applause and yet, it looks like Americans are slightly less willing to agree with him when a critique of PC-ness is linked to the leading Republican contender,” Jenkins explained.

The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 1-5, 2015 among a random national sample of 1026 adults. Results have a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points.

Kevin McArdle has covered the State House for New Jersey 101.5 news since 2002. Contact him at kevin.mcardle@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @kevinmcardle1.