PUBLIC OPINION

Poll after poll has shown that a majority of New Yorkers and Americans support school vouchers. Below are the results of some notable surveys:A New York Times/CBS News Poll of New York residents showed that "52 percent of the new poll's respondents said parents should be allowed to use tax-supported vouchers for their children to attend secular or religious private schools. Forty percent disagreed. While there was strong support among Republicans, who favored vouchers by a 60-34 percent ratio, Democrats also were clearly on the side of school choice, favoring vouchers by 51-40 margin. Hispanics and African-Americans favored publicly financed school choice by nearly a two-to-one margin, with ratios of 63-29 and 61-31 percent respectively. White support was more modest, at 50-42. New York City residents showed a strong preference for vouchers by a 56-36 margin," "From New York to California, Americans Support Vouchers," School Reform News, August 2000).

"A whopping 81 percent of Bronx residents backed vouchers - the highest in the city. Even 58 percent of Manhattan respondents endorsed school choice," ("Poll Reveals Overwhelming City Support For Vouchers," New York Post, August 25, 2000).

In New York City, "77% of immigrants and 71% of non-immigrants want 'to be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice.' Among non-immigrants, support for vouchers is strongest among the lowest socio-economic groups. Fully 87% of Hispanics and 81% of African Americans said they wanted school choice, compared to 61% of Whites. Similarly, 81% of those reporting incomes under $25,000 wanted choice compared to 64% of those with incomes over $100,000. Not surprisingly, the same pattern appeared in educational attainment. The more education the respondent had, the less concern there was about school choice, presumably because the better educated (with higher incomes) already have some degree of school choice," ("Hunter College Launches Multilingual Big Apple Poll: First Poll To Focus On Quality Of Life Issues In New York City," Hunter College Office of the President [Press Release], June 26, 2000).

The Empire Foundation for Policy Research and the Lehrman Foundation conducted a poll that showed "a majority of New York City public school parents would change schools if they could afford to do so, and fully two-thirds (67 percent) of parents support vouchers for use at public, private, or parochial schools…Vouchers are popular among New Yorkers, attracting support from 60 percent of all New Yorkers surveyed. Black New Yorkers offered the strongest support (68 percent), followed by Hispanics (64 percent), and whites (55 percent)…More than six out of ten respondents (62 percent) thought that vouchers would improve the quality of education, and a majority (52 percent) believed that a voucher program would help promote racial and ethnic balances in schools. Only 27 percent felt vouchers would increase racial and ethnic separation," ("Half of NYC Parents Would Flee Public Schools," School Reform News, January 1998).

A poll conducted by Zogby International and sponsored by the Empire Foundation for Policy Research found that "a majority (54 percent) of respondents support allowing low-income parents to be given tax dollars in the form of scholarships to attend the school of their choice, while 36.3 percent oppose the idea. Less than one in ten (9.6 percent) are not sure…Support for school-choice scholarships is greatest among New York City voters (62.4 percent), Democrats (61.1 percent), Hispanics (85.7 percent), and Asians (74.0 percent)." The poll also showed that younger voters support school-choice scholarships by a larger margin than older voters, ("Zogby Poll Reveals Strong Support for Gov. Pataki's Education Reforms," Empire Foundation for Policy Research, March 1997).

"54% of all adults favor school vouchers. This includes 56% of public school parents, 76% of private school parents, and 72% of home school parents…59% of adults say allowing parents a choice in school selection is more likely to produce accountability than oversight by a school board. This view is shared by 57% of public school parents, 81% of private school parents, and 88% of home school parents," ("Public Schools Get Low Grade," Portrait of America Poll, Rasmussen Research, August 3, 2000).

"52% of the public would vote for a candidate who says parents should be able to choose between sending their children to a school that allows prayer and religion in the curriculum and a school that bans prayer and religion. Only 11% of voters feel strongly enough opposed to this alternative to vote against the candidate for proposing it. 41% would favor a candidate who touts education vouchers as a means of expanding the parental options for educating their children; 19% would oppose him," (" Voters Open to Education Vouchers, Choice on School Prayer, Privatization," Portrait of America Poll," Rasmussen Research, December 21, 1999).

The more people learn about vouchers, the more they like them. A Public Agenda poll showed that while 57% of the general population either "strongly support" or "support" school vouchers, support among African Americans (68%) and Hispanics (65%) is even higher.A full 67% of the general public believes that vouchers would put support on the existing public schools to improve, (On Thin Ice, Public Agenda, November 1999). A majority of Americans favor "giving families financial aid so that they can take their kids out of failing public schools and send them to private schools." The poll showed a favorable response from 57% of white respondents and 72% of black respondents surveyed, (" Education: A Nation Divided?," Public Agenda, April 1998)."Eight-out-of-ten of Americans (80%) think every student should be able to choose between a school that allows prayer and includes religious references and a school that does not…Half of America's adults (51%) favor vouchers, while 20% are opposed and 29% are not sure," ("Americans Think Students Deserve Choice Between Schools With, Without Prayer," Portrait of America Poll, Rasmussen Research, September 2, 1997).