Bandwagon Boards in Washington : NFL: Poll suggests that the Redskins hold the latest claim to being America’s Team.

Make room, lots of room, on the bandwagon: About one out of every five Americans is a Washington Redskins fan, according to the latest Washington Post poll.

And when you talk about America’s Team, forget the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. The survey suggests the Redskins now are America’s favorite pro football team -- but with a caveat.

Washington’s Super Bowl-bound Redskins edged San Francisco and Dallas when those surveyed were asked to name their favorite NFL club. And by better than a 3-1 margin, those questioned picked the Redskins to beat the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl on Jan. 26 in Minneapolis.

The survey also found most Americans willing to forgive -- or at least ignore -- the Redskins’ nickname, the target of recent game-day protests at RFK Stadium by groups that consider the name offensive to American Indians.

On other pro football issues, the poll found that most fans favor keeping the instant replay rule. A majority of those questioned also said racial discrimination is not the reason why so few head coaches in pro football are black, or why there are few blacks holding senior positions in teams’ front offices.

The national survey of 810 randomly selected adults was conducted Monday through Wednesday. Margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.

The poll found that while some Americans may hate Washington, many love the Redskins.

To measure the national following of the 28 NFL teams, survey participants were asked to name their three favorite teams. Twenty percent of those surveyed named the Redskins as one of their top three, while 17 percent said the 49ers and 16 percent selected the Cowboys.

But nearly one out of three -- 31 percent -- said he or she didn’t have a favorite, which technically means “none of the above” is America’s Team. And balloting for the equally mythical Not America’s Team title resulted in a four-way tie between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts, Phoenix Cardinals and San Diego Chargers. Each was named by just 1 percent of the sample as one of their three favorite teams.

The survey results, of course, partially reflect simple “name recognition,” one result of the extraordinary national exposure the Redskins have received in the media as they marched almost effortlessly through the regular season, into the playoffs and to the Super Bowl.

Still, something other than media exposure may be behind the Redskins’ popularity. The Buffalo Bills, who narrowly lost in last year’s Super Bowl, were featured repeatedly on national TV this past season. But the Bills were picked by just 9 percent of those interviewed, tied with the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Raiders for fifth place.

The numbers also demonstrate the way professional football has saturated American culture. The survey found that six of 10 Americans follow the game, although only about one of every six said he or she follows it “very closely.”

Overall, the survey results suggest that between 25 and 35 million adult Americans are, to some degree, fans of the Redskins, one of the few teams in the country to enjoy a truly national following.

Still, the four-percentage-point margin of error for this survey means there is a small possibility the 49ers or even the Cowboys might actually be America’s most popular team.

But one thing is undisputed: The Redskins are the public’s choice to win the Super Bowl. According to the poll, 69 percent of those questioned expect the Redskins to take the NFL title, while 21 percent said the Bills.

Still, Americans love to root for the underdog. While two of three persons questioned said the Redskins would win, barely half said they will be rooting for them.

And all should remember that Super Bowl fame is fleeting. Fewer than one of four persons surveyed -- and not even half of all those who closely follow pro football -- could remember that the New York Giants won last year’s Super Bowl.

The instant replay rule, the target of criticism almost since it was adopted in the mid-1980s, is favored by fans. According to the survey, 78 percent of those questioned supported continued use of instant replay to review calls made on the field, while 16 percent said the NFL should drop it.

Even among those who closely follow pro football -- about 40 percent of the sample -- instant replay was favored by nearly a 4-1 ratio.

By a 70 to 22 percent margin, those surveyed said they did not believe racial discrimination was the reason why just two of 28 NFL head coaches are black and why so few blacks hold senior management positions with pro teams. However, about half of all blacks questioned said discrimination was the major reason for those discrepancies.

Most Americans were not troubled by the Redskins’ nickname. Nearly nine out of 10 persons questioned said the team should not change its nickname. The Redskins as well as the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and baseball’s Atlanta Braves have been the targets of protests by those who say the names belittle and offend American Indians.