November 17, 2009 8:25AM # Education Tax Credits the Choice for Independents in Virginia By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE My last [post](../2009/11/17/whats-the-most-popular-choice-reform-in-virginia/) focused on the general results of a school choice [poll](http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/downloadFile.do?id=396) in Virginia. Contra conventional wisdom, education tax credits are significantly more popular and less opposed than are charter schools. Even more interesting is the stability of support for donation tax credits across party identification. A stunning 64 percent of Democrats support credits, with only 21 percent opposed. *Independents support credits 65 percent to 22 percent*. ![Media Name: 200911_blog_schaeffer2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/172395922072/200911_blog_schaeffer2.jpg?itok=x9hUCIF0) Charters are supposed to be the poster child for policies targeting Independent voters. And yet charters draw 59 percent of support from independents and 23 percent opposition. That’s a swing from a 43 percent margin of support for credits to a 36 percent margin for charters. And vouchers run even further behind with a 22 percent margin of support from Independent voters. Smart politicians looking for [cost-saving](http://www.npri.org/docLib/20090113_Choosing_to_Save.pdf) and effective education reform would do well to take note of these numbers. More to come … ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).