Thursday, April 23, 2009

SC Black Voters Support Sen. Ford

Unlike the school discipline survey taken in Charleston earlier this year, this poll cannot be interpreted as skewed by faulty methods by those who don't like the results . See Thursday's P & C for the accompanying story. [Friends, Foes of Choice Lining Up]

POLL FINDS SUPPORT FOR CHOICE

Pulse Opinion Research, a public opinion research group that follows Rasmussen Reports standards, polled 1,000 black voters across the state earlier this month to see where they stand on using tax credits toward private school tuition, and related questions. The poll was paid for by the Parents in Charge Foundation, an organization that advocates for school choice by helping parents pay for private school tuition, including tapping tax dollars to do so. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Here are highlights:

• Should parents, grandparents or custodial relatives be allowed to receive state scholarships for their children to go to private schools if they feel the public schools are not meeting their children's needs? Yes, 43 percent; no, 40 percent; not sure, 17 percent.

• Will giving parents tax credits and scholarships to allow them to choose the best public school or a private school improve the graduation rate in South Carolina? Yes, 53 percent; no, 28 percent; not sure, 19 percent.

• Do you agree or disagree with this statement, "Trapping poor black students in failing public schools is the largest civil rights issue facing our state today?" Agree, 53 percent; disagree, 31 percent; not sure, 15 percent.

• Sen. Robert Ford is an African-American Democrat state senator who is proposing giving parents tax credits and scholarships to choose the best school for their children. Is Sen. Ford looking out for poor kids by getting them out of failing schools and into a better learning environment? Yes, 61 percent; no, 21 percent; not sure, 18 percent.

• Are public schools becoming more segregated, less segregated or has there been no change? More segregated, 42 percent; less segregated, 22 percent; no change, 26 percent; not sure, 9 percent.

So do the views of the Charleston NAACP's Scott and Darby represent CCSD's parents or not?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that poll isn't skewed at all.

Anonymous said...

I just crack up that this reporter actually uses people who don't even have school aged children as her source of "friends and foes" on school choice. Good grief.

Anonymous said...

Think about it. Who comes out for Scott and Darby's rallies? People who DON'T have school aged children...maybe a few canes and walkers, but no kids in our failing schools.