McLaughlin Poll Shows Supermajority, Bipartisan Support for School Choice

A new Club for Growth-sponsored poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates confirms what other polls have shown – that supermajorities of Americans in both parties support school choice.
 
McLaughlin’s findings, resulting from a survey of 1,000 likely voters taken between June 9-11, show that 82 percent of voters agree that “every parent in America should be empowered to send their child to the public, private, charter, or faith-based school of their choice.”
 
And while that sentiment is somewhat higher among Republicans at 87 percent, some 79 percent of Democrats and Independents agree.
 
Likewise, strong majorities support the principles of the Educational Choice for Children Act, which recently passed the House and is now before the Senate Finance Committee. Seventy-three percent of both Republicans and Democrats back “providing federal tax credits to individuals and businesses that make charitable contributions to non-profit education scholarship funds that provide financial assistance to K-12 students for tuition and other educational expenses.”
 
The McLaughlin poll is at least the third of its kind in recent years to verify that around or above two-thirds of voters support school choice. A 2022 poll from the American Federation for Children found the same – as did another from RealClear Opinion Research.
 
What explains such high levels of support for school choice, especially given the polarization of Americans on so many other issues? Parents are fed up with the failures of the American public school system. A full 50 percent of McLaughlin respondents (parents with children in K-12) said that they have moved or have considered moving their child to a different school. And nearly three-quarters (72 percent) said that they would be likely to send their child to a non-public or church-run educational institution if afforded the opportunity.
 
Politically speaking, school choice is a winning issue – one that goes to the heart of the First Amendment. There is no greater expression of First Amendment values than how a parent chooses to educate their child. And, increasingly, it’s looking like more and more parents will be able to make that choice.
 
New Hampshire recently became the latest state to offer universal private school choice, the 19th state to do so. Which state will be next? And when will Democratic governors and state legislators begin to embrace an issue that is overwhelmingly popular with Democratic voters?

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