Public Polls
What We’ve Learned from Public Polls: Overview
Three scientific surveys in 2022 of registered and likely Wisconsin voters demonstrate strong support for school choice.
One survey of 750 likely voters was conducted in February 2022 for School Choice Wisconsin by OnMessage Inc., a nationally respected firm. In 2019, head OMI pollster Wes Anderson was recognized by the American Association of Political Consultants as “Pollster of the Year.” See results from that poll here.
Surveys of registered voters also were conducted in 2022 by the independent and respected Marquette Law School Poll.
Talking Points
- Support for parent choice is growing and bipartisan. It extends to all corners of the state.
- Likely voters support closing the funding gap between choice, charter, and traditional public schools.
- Likely voters think all families should be able to choose private schools in Wisconsin’s parental choice programs, not just lower-income families.
- Likely voters express extremely high support for a “parental bill of rights.”
- Fifty-five percent say public schools are in “worse shape than they were a few years ago.”
- A plurality (forty-seven per cent) say education standards are “lower than they should be.”
Regarding universal choice, the Marquette polls asked a “tough” question, namely, “Do you favor or oppose allowing all students statewide to use publicly funded vouchers to attend private or religious schools if they wish to do so?”
Fifty-eight percent of respondents expressed support.
The School Choice Wisconsin poll included the following: “Currently only low-income families are eligible for school choice vouchers in the statewide program. Income restrictions need to be dropped so that every Wisconsin family has the ability to send their children to a school that’s best for them.”
Sixty-five percent of the respondents agreed.