Recently the Cato Institute released findings from its 2019 National Survey: Welfare, Work and Wealth. It’s a large survey. Cato gathered responses from 1,700 Americans ages 18-year-old and older from March 4 through March 8, 2019. The poll has a margin of error of =/- 2.2 percentage points.
What did they find? Here are a few nuggets:
- 59 percent of Americans have a favorable view of capitalism; 59 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of socialism.
- 61 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on families earning over $200,000 a year.
- 52 percent of young Americans (18-29 years old) believe wealth comes from exploitation; 48 percent believe most rich people in this country earned their wealth
What I found particularly interesting were the responses to questions about education and vouchers
When asked, “if the costs were the same, where would you prefer to send your kids to school?”
- Democrats: 40 percent selected private school; 59 percent public school.
- Independent: 59 percent selected private school; 39 percent public school
- Republican: 68 percent selected private school; 31 percent public school
Almost 6 in 10 Americans (58 percent) favor a proposal that would allow parents to use a “voucher to enroll their children in a private school” with “government helping to pay the tuition.” Forty percent (40 percent) of respondents oppose the idea.
Parental dissatisfaction with educational options continues to propel a nationwide expansion of school choice. Vouchers continue to be a popular tool for making school choice a reality.
Isn’t it time our policies support public sentiment?
