School choice - it's all in the wording

A recent US survey setting out to gauge public support for school choice has found that a difference in wording can have a drastic influence on people's perceptions.

The nationwide study, carried out for the Friedman Foundation, found that negative wording can lower public support for school vouchers, while neutral questioning got support from six out of 10 people, as the diagram below from the survey shows:

The survey also found that 64 percent of those surveyed supported using tax dollars already allocated to a school district for education to be used to help parents pay for the school of their choice and that 80 percent of surveyed African-Americans supported school choice.

The survey coincided with the annual poll by Phi Delta Kappa - a professional society for US teachers - that has regularly found a majority of people opposing private-school vouchers.

The Friedman survey said that the wording used in the Phi Delta Kappa survey biases public opinion toward the issue and, when asked in a less negative fashion, an overwhelming number of adults support education options.

The Friedman Foundation survey.

Information on this year's Phi Delta Kappa survey.