Do You Hear the Footsteps? School Choice is Coming …
Politicians are risk‐averse – so risk‐averse that they often create risk for themselves by not getting ahead of issues that are building to the tipping point.
Education tax credits are supported by overwhelming majorities, and some recent polls add to the evidence. Politicians should take note before it’s too late for them.
A poll by the Show‐Me Institute reveals that in Missouri, support outweighs opposition by almost 2.5 to 1 for both personal‐use and business donation tax credits. A poll by the Bluegrass Institute shows that in Kentucky, support for donation tax credits outweighs opposition by 3 to 1.
These numbers are not new, and they are not going away. Critics of these polls have legitimate concerns regarding question order and wording. But tax credits are very popular with the general public no matter how you frame the question.
Even the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup polls on education, which are notoriously pro‐government education, show this kind of lopsided support for education tax credits. PDK mysteriously dropped the tax credit question after their 1998 and 1999 polls showed 2 to 1 support for education tax credits.
My own polling research shows support ranging from 2.5 to 1 up to 4 to 1 depending on the specific proposal. And that dominant support holds across party ID – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
Education tax credits are popular because people want control over their child’s education and control over how their education dollars are spent.
The school choice movement needs to start talking to and mobilizing the broad middle class that so overwhelmingly supports school choice. Politicians beware … the support is there.
