“The education voter is the new swing voter.” That’s the assessment from Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, of what new poll findings show about the growing power of education at the ballot box. The Alliance commissioned Harris Poll to conduct the survey of 5,000 parents of K-12 schoolchildren nationwide. Full poll findings are coming later this summer–but the Alliance released a sneak peek memo earlier this week to coincide with its 2022 National Charter Schools Conference. Harris Poll queried parents between May 19-31, 2022. Key findings are below.
Education is becoming more important to parents than political party
Parents are very focused on education as they head into the fall–and its importance to them has grown. In fact, more than 8 in 10 parents, or 83%, say education “has become a more important political issue to them than it was in the past.”
Parents who vote in both federal and state/local elections rank education as the second most important issue to them, behind only taxes.
Moreover, parents indicate that education could be even more predictive than political party in deciding how they vote. For instance, 82% say they “would be willing to vote outside their political party based on the candidate’s education platform.”
Here’s the screenshot from the Alliance poll infographic:
Screenshot from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Infographic: “Is the ‘Education Voter’ the New Swing Voter?”
Most parents want more public charter schools
About three in four parents from the Alliance poll say they:
- “would consider sending their child to a public charter school if one were available in their area”
- “want more public charter school offerings in their area”
- “support expanding the number of slots in existing public charter schools in their area”
Read the press release from the Alliance about the polling memo.
Watch the Alliance’s full panel discussion from this week, “Numbers Don’t Lie,” to learn more about polling data on charters and school choice.
