Democratic Primary Voters Support Charter Schools: New Poll

Democratic primary voters favor expanding access to public charter schools, while strengthening accountability for results, by a four-to-one margin, according to a new national poll released this week by the Benenson Strategy Group, hired by Democrats for Education Reform.

The poll found that 84 percent of African-American Democratic primary voters agreed with this view.

More than three out of five Democratic primary voters believe “we need to not only provide more funding for public schools, but also bring new ideas and make real changes to how schools operate.”  This total included 61 percent of Black Democratic primary voters and 63 percent of Latinx Democratic primary voters.”

Nevada voters, including specifically Democratic voters, have consistently stated even deeper support for increased educational options for families.  Last year, a poll of Nevadans found that Clark County Democrats expressed support for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program at a rate of 68 percent in favor, and just 27 percent opposed.

The same voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who made the statement, “We need to raise salaries for all teachers and use extra pay and incentives to diversify teaching and recruit great teachers in hard-to-staff subjects and high-need schools.”

The poll was published October 7, 2019.