Poll: 66 to 70 Percent of Voters in Battleground States Support Publicly Funded K-12 School Choice

In the states polled, support for school choice was particularly high among black respondents

NEW YORK, NY – A large share of voters in key battleground states believe that empowering parents to choose their children’s school raises the overall quality of K-12 education for students, according to a new poll commissioned by the Manhattan Institute. Conducted by Rasmussen Reports as part of their late August–early September polling, the survey posed nine questions related to school choice and charter schools to likely voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina. The findings support expanding the role parents can play in shaping their children’s education.

While charter school enrollment across the five states currently accounts for only 7.3 percent of all students in public education, findings from the poll suggest that parents—especially black parents—would favor a rise in that number. A new report, authored by director of education policy Ray Domanico and project manager Brandon McCoy, discusses these and other findings, including: 

• Across states polled, 46–52 percent or respondents believe that increased school choice raises the overall quality of K-12 education for students, versus 18–20 percent of respondents who say it lowers it;
• Black respondents were more likely to believe that school choice raises educational quality;
• Between 66–70 percent of all respondents supported the concept of publicly funded K-12 school choice;
• Support for publicly funded K-12 school choice was particularly high among black respondents (72 –77 percent) in all states but North Carolina (65 percent);
• Between 51–62 percent of all respondents supported state funding of charter schools as an alternative to traditional district-managed schools; this support was higher among black respondents of all states (ranging from 58–67 percent).

Click here to read the full report.