NC Voters Back Education Reforms

March 5, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bob Luebke (919) 834-2099       bob.luebke@nccivitas.org

RALEIGH – The most recent Civitas Poll shows North Carolina voters strongly support the new Opportunity Scholarship Grants to help low-income students attend the schools of their choice. A clear majority of respondents also oppose the Common Core Standards in schools.

Text of selected questions*:

Question: The Opportunity Scholarship Grant program in North Carolina was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor in July of 2013.  The legislation provides eligible, low-income students with vouchers of up to $4,200 to attend the school of their choice. Do you favor or oppose the Opportunity Scholarship Program?

68%        Total Favor

24%        Total Oppose

 

43%        Strongly Favor

25%        Somewhat Favor

9%           Somewhat Oppose

16%        Strongly Oppose

7%           Undecided/Don’t Know

Question: As you may know, North Carolina adopted the Common Core Math and English Standards in 2010. The standards are now taught in all public schools.

Advocates say Common Core Standards provide more rigorous standards and ensure what students learn is uniform across the country. Critics say Common Core standards are untested and shift responsibility for education away from the states to the federal government.

With that in mind, do you favor or oppose the use of Common Core Standards in North Carolina public schools?

34%        Total Favor

52%        Total Oppose

 

17%        Strongly Favor

17%        Somewhat Favor

13%        Somewhat Oppose

39%        Strongly Oppose

14%        Undecided/Don’t Know

*Total may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

Crosstabs here.

About the poll: This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted Feb. 24-26, 2015 by National Research, Inc., of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered general election voters in North Carolina. Thirty percent of the respondents were cell phone-only users. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past two general elections (2012, 2014) or be newly registered to vote since November 1, 2014. The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.”

Civitas conducts the only regular live-caller polling of North Carolina voters. For more information on Civitas polling, see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.

The Civitas Institute – “North Carolina’s Conservative Voice” – is a policy institute based in Raleigh, N.C. More information is available at www.nccivitas.org, or contact Jim Tynen at (919) 834-2099 or james.tynen@nccivitas.org.