Latino Education Survey Research Results
Memorandum
To: Interested Parties
From: Beck Research LLC Date: May 9, 2012
Re: Latino Education Survey Research Results
Our recent survey in five battleground states among likely November voters and Latinos demonstrates that education is a top issue for candidates to address. Latinos, in particular, want to hear more from the candidates on education and strongly support greater school choice. These likely voters agree that giving parents more choices of schools will improve the education system.
This survey demonstrates that voters strongly back a greater school choice agenda. We probed a series of school choice proposals and each receives substantial support among all voters, but Latinos display particular strength of support. Three-quarters of voters (74%) support special needs scholarships and strong majorities support Education Saving Accounts, tax credit programs and Opportunity Scholarships, also known as school vouchers. In each case, Latino support outpaces support among White voters. In addition, most voters (85%) back providing vouchers in some form, including just 11% who think vouchers should be restricted to only low-income families.
The survey fielded April 17-24th among a total of 1050 likely November voters across five states with the potential to be battlegrounds and which contain a large percentage of Latino voters (Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico and Nevada), including an additional 300 Latinos (a total of 380 Latinos). The margin of error is +/- 3.6%.
- Education is a top tier issue for battleground voters and Latinos. Improving K to 12 education is a high priority for voters (mean of 8.3 out of 10/8.8 out of 10 among Latinos), standing behind the economy/jobs (mean of 9.4 out of 10) and in line with reducing the budget deficit (mean of 8.5 out of 10). Latinos are more likely than likely voters overall to cite improving education and increasing education options for parents as core priorities.
- Latinos want to hear from the presidential candidates on education. Education is a
top priority for Latinos and 58% of Latinos agree that “we need to hear more from
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the presidential candidates on how they will improve education,” compared to 37% who say “we need to hear more from the presidential candidates on other issues before we talk about education.” In addition, a majority of Latinos (53%) say “improving education for all children is central to improving our economy,” compared to 44% who say “improving the economy needs to be our biggest priority.”
- Voters, especially Latinos, agree that greater school choice is a positive force. There is strong agreement that "choice and competition among schools improves education" (65% agree), compared to 26% who say “choice and competition among schools hurts education.” A majority of voters (56%) agree that "giving parents more choices of schools will improve the education system" while just 38% say "giving parents more choices of schools does not impact the quality of education.”
- Opportunity Scholarships or Vouchers receive strong support, especially among Latinos. Across each of the five target states, a majority supports Opportunity Scholarships (see table below); the proposal starts with an 18-point advantage, 57% support – 39% oppose, and after voters hear positive and negative information, support for the proposal increases to 61% with 35% opposed. Among Latinos, support is initially stronger with 69% backing the proposal while just 29% oppose it.
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Initial Support for Opportunity Scholarships
(Support – Oppose)
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Total
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57%
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- 39%
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Arizona
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51%
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- 44%
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Florida
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56%
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- 40%
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New Jersey
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62%
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– 34%
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New Mexico
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57%
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- 36%
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Nevada
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55%
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- 42%
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Opportunity Scholarships also garner strong support among other key
demographics; Independents support it by 15-point margin and young women by 19 points. While White parents back it by 21-points, Hispanic parents support it by an amazing 55-point margin.
- Additional school choice programs are very popular. Beyond Opportunity Scholarships, we tested three other versions of school choice programs and found that each of these receives stronger support than traditional voucher programs. Special need scholarships are supported by an astonishing 74% of likely voters and 80% of Latinos. Tax credit programs where non-profit organizations award scholarships to eligible students and Education Saving Accounts, which use state funds to create a personal account for parents, also garner wide support.
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Support for Education Proposals
(Support – Oppose)
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|
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Likely Voters
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Latinos
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Opportunity scholarships
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57% - 39%
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69% - 29%
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Tax credit school programs
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65% - 31%
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71% - 26%
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Education savings accounts
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60% - 31%
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70% - 26%
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Special needs scholarships
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74% - 22%
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80% - 16%
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- In addition, 85% of voters and 91% of Latinos think vouchers and tax credit scholarships in some form should be available; only 36%, however, think they should be available to all students regardless of household income while 38% say vouchers should be available to middle class and low-income families. Few voters (11% of likely voters and 14% of Latinos) think vouchers should be restricted to low-income families.
- In terms of messaging, the top two arguments both focus on immediate benefits of Opportunity Scholarships for students. The arguments in favor of opportunity scholarship programs are very persuasive.
o The strongest argument among all voters is “Opportunity scholarship programs give children from low income families a way out of failing schools so they are not forced to wait indefinitely for their local schools to improve. Students should not be sentenced to a poor education based upon their zip code” (38% very convincing, 70% very or somewhat convincing among all voters; 43% very convincing, 74% very or somewhat convincing among Latinos).
o The second strongest argument is “Vouchers provide an immediate path for children from low income families in failing schools to access a better education. Studies show that children in these programs have higher graduation rates, higher academic achievement and parents are more satisfied with their child’s school.” (33% very convincing, 74% very or somewhat convincing among all voters; 41% very convincing, 79% very or somewhat convincing among Latinos).
- Finally, we probed a series of education reforms and found that voters think teacher based reforms would do the most to improve schools.
o A majority (57%) think reforming Last In, First Out would definitely improve schools, although Latinos lag behind this popular reform (48% definitely improve).
o In contrast, Latinos are more likely than other voters to say that providing higher teacher pay for higher performing teachers would definitely improve the schools (57% definitely improve among Latinos compared to 45% among all voters).