Education--Not Taxes--Is the Primary Issue for Arkansans, According to Second Annual Arkansas Poll

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Tax measures may dominate the ballot next Tuesday, but education is far and away the most pressing issue for the state’s citizens, according to the second annual Arkansas Poll conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Arkansans view the state’s public schools as slightly inferior to those across the nation but hold their local schools in relatively high esteem, the poll found. They have mixed feelings about school vouchers, favor tying teacher pay raises to student performance, and strongly support standardized testing.

"Consistent with national opinion surveys and with what respondents said last year in the first Arkansas Poll, education continues to be the overriding public policy concern for our state’s citizens," said Dr. Janine Parry, assistant professor of political science and the poll’s director. "In fact, taxes pale beside education as an issue."

To a question about the most important problem facing Arkansas today, 32.6 of the poll’s respondents said "education." In second place was "drugs," 20.8 percent,

followed by "morality," 15.9 percent; "taxes," 8.8 percent; "crime," 8.6 percent; and "the economy," 7.9 percent.

The Arkansas Poll was conducted from Oct. 17-25 by the Survey Research Center at the University of Arkansas. The pole yielded 775 completed surveys (more than 60 questions per survey) from 3,914 randomly selected Arkansas telephone numbers. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3 percent.

"To make sure the sample drawn for the survey was representative of the state’s residents," Parry said, "the Arkansas Poll team likes to publish the survey respondents’ demographic characteristics as they compare to those of the state as a whole. Generally, our sample compares favorably with state data on median age, gender, and race, but is slightly higher on education and income."

Arkansans tend to rate public grade schools and high schools around the country slightly higher than they do schools throughout their home state, Parry said. Public schools nationwide got a rating of 26.7 percent "good," 44.9 percent "adequate" and 18.5 percent "poor," while Arkansans rated in-state public schools as 25.5 percent good, 39.7 percent "adequate," and 24.1 percent "poor."

Opinions rose considerably, however, when Arkansans were asked to rate the public schools in their local districts: 33.3 percent said "adequate," 33.8 percent said "good," and 10.3 percent said "excellent," while only 16.9 percent said "poor."

When parents of school-age children rated their own local schools, opinions grew even more positive. Seventy percent provided an "excellent" or "good" rating for their children’s schools, while just 8 percent said they were "poor."

Based on responses to last fall’s Arkansas Poll, education was chosen as the policy focus for this fall’s survey, Parry said. With guidance from Dr. Gary Ritter, assistant professor in the UA’s College of Education and Health Professions, researchers addressed several controversial education reforms being debated across the nation.

"The findings demonstrate that while many people agree education is an important issue, we are divided on some of the proposals circulating nationwide right now," Ritter said. For example:

• On school vouchers plans in general, 49.5 percent of respondents agreed that they supported their adoption in some form; 43.1 disagreed and 5.9 percent said they didn’t know.
• Among the 49.5 percent of school voucher supporters, a majority—52.3 percent—disagreed that school vouchers should be targeted only to low-income families; 36.9 percent agreed and 8.4 percent didn’t know.
• Also among the 49.5 percent of school voucher supporters, a much larger majority—68.5 percent—disagreed that school vouchers should be prohibited at schools sponsored by religious organizations; only 21.7 percent agreed that they should be prohibited, and 7.7 percent didn’t know.
  The poll also asked those respondents who were parents of school-age children if they would send their own child to a private school if vouchers were made available. Of those parents, 50.4 percent said no, 39.2 percent said yes, and 10.3 percent said they didn’t know.
• On teacher pay raises connected to student performances, 52.2 percent agreed, 43.9 percent disagreed and 3.2 percent didn’t know.
• Of the 52.2 percent of respondents who said teacher pay raises should be connected to student performance, a majority — 57 percent — agreed that student poverty should be considered such pay raises are based on student performance; 34.5 percent disagreed, and 7.4 percent didn’t know.
• On whether standardized test results are a good measure of student academic performance, 61.1 percent agreed, 32.6 percent disagreed, and 5.8 percent didn’t know. Of those respondents who were parents of school age children, a majority— 58 percent — rejected the idea that standardized tests cause undue stress and anxiety for children in school; only 38.5 percent agreed.

The poll also explored some election day matters.

Arkansans are voting on a number of ballot amendments and initiatives next Tuesday, but that’s okay because they apparently like them, the poll suggests.

"Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents appeared to like the role of ballot measures in our state policy-making process, concluding that such measures are 'a good thing for the state’," said Dr. Will Miller, associate professor of political science, head of the UA’s Ph.D. program in public policy, and an Arkansas Poll researcher.

Of the various ballot measures, that which has garnered the most public support is Initiated Act #1, the Governor Mike Huckabee-backed proposal for using the recent tobacco settlement money. Some 71 percent of respondents favor the measure (only 20 percent oppose), which puts some of the money in a trust fund, provides some of it to public universities for conducting health-related research or training, and uses some of it to expand health programs.

The ballot measure facing the toughest challenge is the proposal (Amendment 5) to establish a state lottery, permit charitable bingo, and allow casino gambling in certain Arkansas counties, with a portion of proceeds to be used for reducing or eliminating the sales tax on groceries and providing funds for education. Some 49.1 percent of respondents said they opposed the measure, while 46.3 percent favored it and 4.3 percent didn’t know.

"What’s interesting here is the religiosity of people opposing Amendment 5," Miller said. "Some 78 percent of people who reported going to church more than once a week were opposed to the amendment as compared with about 30 percent of people who reported attending once a month or several times a year. Only 27 percent of people reporting that they never attend church were opposed to the amendment."

As for other ballot measures:

• Amendment 1, allowing cities and counties to form "redevelopment districts" in economically deteriorated areas in order to finance improvements: 66.2 percent favor; 21.6 percent oppose; 11.5 percent don’t know.
• Amendment 2, giving taxpayers a credit of up to $300 toward their homestead property tax while limiting the amount that a person’s property tax could increase in a given year and prohibiting such an increase on property owned by elderly or disabled persons: 66.7 percent favor; 28.7 percent oppose; 3.9 percent don’t know.
• Amendment 3, revising the state’s court system from one in which judges are chosen from partisan affiliations (Democrat, Republican) to one in which candidates are not identified by party: 46.4 percent favor; 31.7 oppose; 20.6 don’t know.

The Arkansas Poll also found that, no matter which presidential candidate he carries the state next Tuesday, George W. Bush is winning the favorability contest.

Responding to the question "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of George Bush/Al Gore?", Arkansans gave the edge to the Republican presidential candidate, giving him 47.5 percent "favorable" and 39.9 percent unfavorable.

The results were nearly opposite for Democratic candidate Al Gore, who received 40.1 percent "favorable" and 48.1 "unfavorable."

Ratings for the presidential candidates pale beside those of Governor Mike Huckabee, however. His job approval rating rose to 68.5 percent this year compared with 66 percent last year — "an impressive showing for any public figure," according to Parry.

In the area of the national government, respondents were asked if they were satisfied with the way democracy works in the United States. Nearly 70 percent were satisfied, while 27.7 percent were unsatisfied.

Arkansans’ trust in the government in Washington to do what is right is more scattered, however. Only 2.1 percent trust the government "always," while 21.7 do "most of the time," 66 percent "some of the time" and 9.2 percent "never."

In terms of their professed partisan affiliation, 23 percent of Arkansas Poll respondents said Republican, 36 percent Democrat, and 35 percent Independent. According to University of Arkansas political scientists and poll researchers Dr. Bill Schreckhise and Dr. Todd Shields, the partisan breakdown is almost exactly the same as what Arkansas Poll respondents said last year.