A new poll released this morning by the conservative Civitas Institute found strong opposition in Wake County to mandatory year-round schools and the diversity policy.
According to the poll, 74.9 percent said they support giving parents a choice on calendar with 18.1 percent supporting mandatory year-round. On the issue of diversity, 68.3 percent said they were opposed to the diversity policy while 22.0 percent were in support.
Civitas says the poll shows "overwhelming majorities of Wake County voters support the new School Board's efforts."
The poll was timed to come out before today's school board meeting in which there will be a vote on halting plans to open new schools on a mandatory year-round calendar pending the completion of a parental survey.
This new poll of 413 Wake County voters was conducted Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. You can read the latest poll questions for yourself to see if you consider them legit or a push poll.
For instance, is it loaded to ask people if they support assigning students to mandatory year-round or should parents be given a choice?
One thing to keep in mind is that Civitas has strongly praised the actions of the new board. But the election results, a June poll from Civitas and those done before the election by Public Policy Polling indicate the new poll results may have more weight than critics think.
Comments
I have OFTEN received
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 14:28 — AngelaWI have OFTEN received unsolicited calls AND texts on my cell phone...
so as you said agree to disagree. this thread is done.
This may help you out: The
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 14:39 — carson79This may help you out:
The Federal Trade Commission does allow mobile phone users to add their numbers to the National Do-Not-Call Registry (the same one already in force for home phones), either online or by calling 1-888-382-1222. Doing so probably isn't necessary, mind you — per FCC regulations, telemarketers are already prohibited from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers — but millions have already signed up, and so can you.
I think pollsters can still call cells somehow? but at least this will ease AngelaW's cell phone bill from all those unsolicited messages and calls.
The poor can't afford cell
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 14:04 — red_balloonThe poor can't afford cell phones. That would be Carson's theory.
(No subject)
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 14:08 — AngelaWDo we know geographically where the calls were made?
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:39 — carson79Did they spread the calls out or are they just claiming they are all in Wake County?
Survery methodology
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:44 — RichardAndersonAgain, from the link:
If you want to see the population profile of those surveyed, once again, following the link given would give you this:
http://www.nccivitas.org/files/CFP%20Wake%20Dec%2009%20CTs.pdf
There is not indication of geographic location within the county. The population sample seems pretty representative of the county as a whole at first glance, but I haven't really examined it.
survey methodology
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:50 — SDR256Regarding survey methodology, given that I heard David Holzcum as the person presenting the directions for the survey I am cautiously watchful about how they are going to go about this. As one who has worked on huge surveys like this I am well aware of how surveys can be constructed with a slanted bias. This will be an interesting survey to review. That said, its very good news that the system is surveying parents. This is a great step forward.
CELL PHONES OR LANDLINES?
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:48 — carson79I think a simple "no" would have sufficed, do you not? There is no geographic information. Why not? I am guessing they would not have that info since it was just random calls to people?
Ok, I didn't look so jump on top of me but do we know if they called CELL PHONES or LANDLINES? This would make a HUGE difference in the population.
I am just wondering since they say it's a sample of Wake county voters, how do they get the voters phone numbers?
Voter Phone Numbers Are Available
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 13:51 — JanisTangoTrust me!
cell or landline? and
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 13:56 — carson79cell or landline? and where are they available?
General info
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 13:00 — RichardAndersonI have no idea about this particular survey, but the way it usually works is that a survey provider will get a list from a public source, in this case likely Board of Elections. From that they can filter the data based on those who voted in whatever election they desire. From there they cross reference that list to the phone book. They can exclude cell phones if they want to, I believe based on exchange (the 3 numbers after the area code). After they have all the matches they want, they use a random dialer program and sometimes an automated response interface (press 1 for...) to do the number of surveys the sponsoring company has paid for. My guess is that in this case it was 500, and they had to throw out 87 of them because the person just hit one every time and the total call time was five seconds or whatever. I would also guess that the actual numbers dialed weren't ever looked at because the a computer generated random list is going to give decent dispersal and the primary criteria for participation, voters, isn't necessarily going to reflect geographic distribution for any number of reasons, foremost in this case being if the recent school board election was the criteria for being classified as a voter, then a big chunk of the county did not have the ability to vote.
Again, this is GENERAL survey procedures based on what I know and there is no way for me to know if this is how this particular survey was conducted. Call 404.233.3710 for the survey company if you really want to know.
Carson, follow the link
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:37 — RichardAndersonLink from Mr. Hui's post:
http://www.nccivitas.org/media/press-releases/civitas-poll-voters-back-board-mandatory-year-round-ending-diversity-assignment
Where you will find
Full text of questions:
Do you support the current school board policy of assigning some students to mandatory year round schools or should parents be given a choice between sending their child to a school that is year round or traditional calendar? You will have the choice to be undecided or have no opinion.
Do you support or oppose the school board’s current policy of assigning students to schools based on achieving diversity, instead of sending students to the school closest to their home? You will also have the choice of being undecided.
Hypothetically, would you rather send your child to a school that is closest to your home or one that is further away but would be more economically diverse? You will have the choice of being undecided.
Do you believe that attending a neighborhood school would serve to increase parental involvement in their child’s school? You have the choice of being undecided.
Please post the exact words
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:34 — carson79Please post the exact words of the diversity policy question if you have them.
there's a link in the
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:34 — jenmanthere's a link in the original blog posting.
mine was dead its working
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:39 — carson79mine was dead its working now.
Why does this always get left out?
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:10 — RichardAndersonIs it really too much to ask to have the question "do you have a child enrolled in WCPSS at this time?" so we can see the cross tab results based on that information? No matter who is in charge, the Board is always going to criticized by some for representing the wishes of parents over the wishes of all voters.
Excellent point. It would
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 12:34 — jenmanExcellent point. It would be especially interesting for the myr questions.