Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Annual Education Poll:
School Choice Again Falls Victim
Washington, D.C.
August 24, 2004

A poll released today by Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup on Americas views on education is the latest in the organizations annual tradition of using misleading questions to skew the publics view of school choice.

The Center for Education Reform (CER) provides a reality check through a whole host of survey research that tells the story PDK failed to tell: Americans, especially parents, value educational options.

What Survey Research Really Reveals:

" Most Americans (64 percent) support using tax dollars already allocated to a school district for education to be used to help parents pay for the school of their choice, according to an August 2004 Friedman Foundation poll.

" About 60 percent of Americans would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting school choice, according to the same Friedman poll.

" The 2002 National Survey of Attitudes Toward School Choice conducted by CER and Zogby International in August 2002 with Zogby, found widespread support as well in the African American community: 72 percent of African Americans support permitting parents to use tax dollars allotted for their child s education in the form of a scholarship to attend a private school, as do 64 percent of Hispanics.

" A 2002 National Opinion Poll on Education issued in May 2003 by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies finds that 57 percent of African Americans support vouchers (up from 48 percent in 1996), versus 43 percent who oppose them. In the general population, 52 percent of people support vouchers (up from 43 percent in 1996).

In ranking their public schools, only 35.2 percent of African Americans rated their school Excellent/Good, (down from 41 percent in 1996) versus 53.7 percent of the general population down from 63.7 percent in 1996).

" August of 2002 saw the release of the BAMPAC 2002 National Opinion Poll (Black America s Political Action Committee, August 2002). Their findings were similar to CERs with: 63 percent of respondents (all African Americans) saying they would place their children in either private or charter schools were the option offered. In addition, 64 percent of respondents reported having a favorable impression of BAMPAC when they learned the group supports opportunity scholarships. In addition, 56 percent of African Americans rated their schools a C  or below.

" Despite designing the question to elicit negative responses, The 34th Annual Phi delta Kappa/Gallup Poll (August 2002) found: 52 percent of respondents support giving parents the ability to send their children to a public, private or religious school. In addition, 63 percent of nonwhites  supported allowing parents to send their school-age children to any public, private, or church-related school they choose  even when the government would pay for all or part of the tuition.

" The Associated Press Poll on school vouchers (August 2002) stated: 51 percent of respondents would support providing parents in low-income families with tax money in the form of school vouchers to help pay for their children to attend private or religious schools. 45 percent of respondents said if vouchers were available to send their children to private school, they would take them.
And, The ABC News.com Poll (July 16, 2002) reported: 50 percent of respondents support helping low-income parents pay private or religious school tuition. Support is 57 percent among low-income groups.

The Illinois loop, sent out a recent report of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation that explores how the wording of questions can affect results. Researchers at the Foundation split their panel in two, and asked each sub-panel a different question.

-- When people were asked a loaded question used in a Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) survey, "do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?" only 41% said they favored this.

-- But when the question instead was, "do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose any school, public or private, to attend using public funds?" then a whopping 63% of people favored parental choice.

The summary copied below is at:
http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/news/2004-08-20.html

A more detailed report is at:
http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/quorum.pdf

August 20, 2004

National study raises question of bias in annual Phi Delta Kappa poll
Results show majority of Americans support school vouchers.

INDIANAPOLIS - Negative wording can drastically influence public response to school vouchers, while neutral questioning elicits support from six out of ten Americans, concludes a national study conducted by leading research firm WirthlinWorldwide.

"Parents want the freedom to choose a school based on its quality, not their address," said Robert Enlow, executive director of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation. "This study reflects the support the Foundation encounters everyday across the country - parents want choice. They want an education that works for their child, regardless of whether the school is public or private. Unfortunately, well-funded groups which advocate only for government schools distort the views of the majority."

The study, sponsored by the Friedman Foundation, set out to determine, using a sound methodology of split sampling, if the annual Phi Delta Kappa poll, to be released on August 24, used wording that could artificially lower support for school choice.

Half of the sample was asked the more negative PDK question, "do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?" Only 41 percent supported school vouchers when presented this way. The other half was asked the more neutral question "do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose any school, public or private, to attend using public funds?" The support was significantly higher with 63 percent supporting school vouchers.


"These results demonstrate the powerful difference that a few words can make when measuring public opinion," said Dee Alsop, WirthlinWorldwide Chairman and CEO. "Americans are less likely to support school choice when more prejudiced wording such as 'public expense' are used and it is implied that such funds would be used for 'private schools' only. Using more neutral descriptions reveals the overwhelming public support for school choice options that exists in America."

Other findings include:
* Most Americans (64 percent) support using tax dollars already allocated to a school district for education to be used to help parents pay for the school of their choice.
* About 60 percent of Americans would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting school choice.
* Both Republicans (68 percent) and Democrats (54 percent) would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting school choice.
* Nearly 70 percent of African-American Democrats surveyed would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting school choice.
* The total number of African-Americans surveyed who favor school choice reaches 80 percent.
* Even childless tax-payers support school choice. The majority of parents (65 percent) and non-parents (64 percent) favor using tax dollars to send a child to a school of their choice, whether that school is public, private or religious.

Findings for the study were compiled from a telephone survey of 1,001 adult Americans between August 6-9. Margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent.

Full results of the study

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Annual Education Poll:
School Choice Again Falls Victim
Washington, D.C.
August 24, 2004

A poll released today by Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup on Americas views on education is the latest in the organizations annual tradition of using misleading questions to skew the publics view of school choice.

The Center for Education Reform (CER) provides a reality check through a whole host of survey research that tells the story PDK failed to tell: Americans, especially parents, value educational options.

What Survey Research Really Reveals:

" Most Americans (64 percent) support using tax dollars already allocated to a school district for education to be used to help parents pay for the school of their choice, according to an August 2004 Friedman Foundation poll.

" About 60 percent of Americans would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting school choice, according to the same Friedman poll.

" The 2002 National Survey of Attitudes Toward School Choice conducted by CER and Zogby International in August 2002 with Zogby, found widespread support as well in the African American community: 72 percent of African Americans support permitting parents to use tax dollars allotted for their child s education in the form of a scholarship to attend a private school, as do 64 percent of Hispanics.

" A 2002 National Opinion Poll on Education issued in May 2003 by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies finds that 57 percent of African Americans support vouchers (up from 48 percent in 1996), versus 43 percent who oppose them. In the general population, 52 percent of people support vouchers (up from 43 percent in 1996).

In ranking their public schools, only 35.2 percent of African Americans rated their school Excellent/Good, (down from 41 percent in 1996) versus 53.7 percent of the general population down from 63.7 percent in 1996).

" August of 2002 saw the release of the BAMPAC 2002 National Opinion Poll (Black America s Political Action Committee, August 2002). Their findings were similar to CERs with: 63 percent of respondents (all African Americans) saying they would place their children in either private or charter schools were the option offered. In addition, 64 percent of respondents reported having a favorable impression of BAMPAC when they learned the group supports opportunity scholarships. In addition, 56 percent of African Americans rated their schools a C  or below.

" Despite designing the question to elicit negative responses, The 34th Annual Phi delta Kappa/Gallup Poll (August 2002) found: 52 percent of respondents support giving parents the ability to send their children to a public, private or religious school. In addition, 63 percent of nonwhites  supported allowing parents to send their school-age children to any public, private, or church-related school they choose  even when the government would pay for all or part of the tuition.

" The Associated Press Poll on school vouchers (August 2002) stated: 51 percent of respondents would support providing parents in low-income families with tax money in the form of school vouchers to help pay for their children to attend private or religious schools. 45 percent of respondents said if vouchers were available to send their children to private school, they would take them.
And, The ABC News.com Poll (July 16, 2002) reported: 50 percent of respondents support helping low-income parents pay private or religious school tuition. Support is 57 percent among low-income groups.