Education -- specifically fairness in education -- has become a
focal point in the politically charged atmosphere three months
before the presidential election. The virtues and drawbacks of
President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" policy have
been increasingly scrutinized as the candidates work to explain
their perspectives and define their positions to voters.
Given that low-income students and minorities often feel the
brunt of school funding inequities, it's particularly relevant to
look at whether Americans think black children have fewer resources
than white children do in their classrooms. The most recent Gallup
Minority Rights and Relations poll* shows that American opinion on
educational opportunities for black children is quite similar to
readings spanning the past 15 years, and particularly opinion from
the past five years -- a period that included the last presidential
election cycle.
Americans who self-identify as Republicans tend to have
noticeably different views on the educational opportunities of
black children in their communities than do those who consider
themselves Democrats. While approximately two-thirds of Democrats
(67%) believe that black children have as good a chance as white
children do to get a good education in their local communities, 9
in 10 Republicans (90%) hold that opinion.
Partisanship, as widely noted, bears a strong relationship to
race, with black Americans much more likely to claim Democratic
affiliation than Republican affiliation.
However, the fact that most blacks identify themselves as
Democrats does not solely explain the differences between
Republicans and Democrats on this issue. American opinion diverges
markedly on fairness in education by both partisanship and
race. Only 73% of white Democrats believe that black children and
white children have equal opportunities for a good education,
compared with 91% of white Republicans. And although our sample
included only 41 black Republicans, making it too small to support
reliable conclusions, the cross-party comparison for black
respondents suggests that the party gap could be nearly as large
for blacks as for whites.
But within both the Democratic and Republican parties, blacks
are also significantly less likely than their white counterparts to
believe that black children have the same opportunities that white
children do to get a good education. In fact, divergences of
opinion on the issue of racial opportunities in education between
black and white constituencies are as large as the differences
between the two political parties overall.
Bottom Line
As the presidential campaign enters its final stages following the
party conventions, where do the candidates stand? The Kerry-Edwards
ticket suggests establishing a National Education Trust Fund to
provide school funding and to ensure that No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) works by rewarding those who meet the standards and improve.
The Bush-Cheney campaign continues to focus on the initial
bipartisan support for NCLB and to cite its goals -- that schools,
states, and teachers be accountable for the education of
all of the nation's youth.
It is clear that views on racial equality in educational
opportunity resonate with voting intentions: Among those who expect
to vote for Kerry, 68% feel that black children have as good a
chance as white children to get a good education, while 92% of Bush
supporters feel this way. But one less-apparent reality is the fact
that each of the parties represents a diverse coalition of racial
constituencies with distinct views on this issue, forged from their
own distinct experiences and perspectives.
*The results are based on telephone interviews with a
national sample of 2,250 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted June
9-30, 2004, including oversamples of blacks and Hispanics that are
weighted to reflect their proportions in the general population.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can
say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error
is ±5 percentage points.
Results for the sample of 1,122 whites, aged 18 and older, carry
a sampling tolerance of ±6 percentage points. Results for
the sample of 854 blacks, aged 18 and older, carry a sampling
tolerance of ±8 percentage points.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into
the findings of public opinion polls.
