Like most survey respondents who refuse to call the airport Reagan, Brown is, in her words, a big ol Democrat. In our survey, only 35 percent of Democrats call the airport Reagan or Reagan National, compared to 72 percent of Republicans.
One such Republican is Chris Sloan, 50, a banker from Connecticut.
I dont call it Reagan because of my political affiliation, Sloan says. I call it Reagan because thats the name of the airport. His is one of the most common reasons cited by survey respondents for saying Reagan.
Political reasons were most often cited for not calling the airport Reagan, particularly the presidents treatment of air traffic controllers. Reagans firing of 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981 may also be why neither pilots nor air traffic controllers seem to use the airports proper name. When talking to pilots, air traffic controllers say DCA or National, says Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown, who didnt speculate as to why that is. Pilots tend to say Washington Tower or National Tower. (You can listen in at liveatc.net.)
In the long run, it looks like Reagan will win out. Our survey found that younger generations are more likely to use Reagan, regardless of political affiliation. That may be because, to them, Reagan simply connotes the convenient airport thats on Metro just as Dulles, to many locals, means the airport thats way out in Virginia, not the namesake of John Foster Dulles, architect of Cold War brinkmanship.
Thats certainly the case for Denzel Thomas, 25.
I dont know much about Ronald Reagan, said the D.C.-based artist, while waiting for a flight to Miami. I think he was president before I was born.
As for what to call the airport, Thomas sidesteps the whole issue.
I call it DCA, because thats easiest to text, he says.
