Americans Agree with Supreme Court Ruling On the Use of School Facilities For Religious Group Meetings

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ – In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that religious groups must be allowed to meet in public schools after class hours. The specific case involved The Good News Club of Milford, New York, which sued the local school district for preventing the religious group from using school facilities for their regular meetings. The court majority ruled that excluding the club was unconstitutional discrimination. The decision is directly in line with the views of the majority of Americans. According to a Gallup poll conducted February 9-11, 72% of Americans favor the use of schools for religious group meetings after school hours, while just 26% are opposed.

As the table below demonstrates, opinion of the decision is generally consistent across geographic, educational, and ideological subgroups.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,016 adults, 18 years and older, conducted February 9-11, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 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.

Next I'm going to read a variety of proposals concerning religion and public schools. For each one, please tell me whether you would generally favor or oppose it. First, ... Next, ... [RANDOM ORDER]

BASED ON – 529 – NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM A; ±4 PCT. PTS.

Making public school facilities available after school hours for use by student religious groups

Allowing daily prayer to be spoken in the classroom

Allowing students to say prayers at graduation ceremonies as part of the official program

Thinking about the presence that religion currently has in public schools in this country, do you think religion has [ROTATED: too much of a presence in public schools, about the right amount, (or) too little of a presence in public schools]?

BASED ON – 487 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM B; ±4 PCT. PTS.