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NPR Ed
NPR/Ipsos Poll:
Most Americans Support Teachers' Right To Strike
Anya Kamanetz
As the wave of teacher walkouts moves to Arizona and Colorado this
week, an NPR/Ipsos poll shows strong support among Americans for
improving teachers' pay and for their right to strike.
Just 1 in 4 Americans believe teachers in this country are paid fairly.
Nearly two-thirds approve of national teachers' unions, and
three-quarters agree teachers have the right to strike. That last
figure includes two-thirds of Republicans, three-quarters of
independents and nearly 9 in 10 Democrats.
"Our teachers have not been able to have raises for the last several
years and I'm certain it's the same issue that's going on around the
country," said Marla Hackett of Queen Creek, Ariz., who responded to
the survey and said she has a daughter who is a teacher. "They are
underappreciated, underpaid and they work ridiculously long hours."
Just over 1,000 Americans were surveyed in the second week of April,
when teachers were marching in several mostly red states.
Arizona, where Hackett lives, is one of the latest states where
teachers are walking off the job in protest of low pay and inadequate
school funding, after Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia. Colorado
teachers, too, have scheduled demonstrations, and schools are closing
this Thursday and Friday.
In the NPR/Ipsos poll, a little less than two-thirds of the respondents
said they had recently seen media reports on teacher unions.
Gloria Weathers, of Louisville, Ky., was personally affected by the
walkout in that state. She said her daughter, a middle schooler, had
been out of school for two Fridays. Nevertheless, she said, "The
teachers are in the right for fighting for their pensions. I think most
people support them. I think the governor of my state is in the wrong."
NPR ED
Teachers Are Marching Ahead Of Their Unions, In Oklahoma And Arizona
Despite broad support for the right to strike, the public's view of
unions wasn't all roses. Just half of respondents overall agreed that
"teacher unions improve the quality of education" and that "teacher
unions improve the quality of teachers."
There were deep partisan divides on these two issues, with Democrats
being far more favorable towards unions than Republicans, and
independents in the middle. Marla Hackett said that in her community in
Arizona, "we have really mixed feelings," over unions.
Another of the respondents, Angela Lee, of Baltimore, expressed
qualified support for unions. "I only approve if the unions work toward
the teachers getting the finances they need to support their families,"
she says. "If they're not doing that, it's a waste of time."
Lee, a mother of three public school graduates, said she had trained
Baltimore public school teachers as an HIV educator, and many confided
in her about being underpaid and even needing to rely on public
assistance. "They're overworked and understaffed, if you ask me."
While sympathetic to the unions, 63 percent of respondents, including
53 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Republicans, saw a drawback
as well, agreeing with the statement "teacher unions make it harder to
fire bad teachers."
Still, the 63 percent approval rating of "national teachers' unions"
among the general public was 21 points higher than the approval
expressed for "the U.S. Department of Education leadership."
That difference was driven by Democrats, 80 percent of whom approved of
the unions, while just 37 percent supported the Department of Ed. Among
Republicans, 55 percent expressed support for unions and 54 percent
supported the Education Department.
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