Study: Voters Value Education - Mitch Smith, Inside Higher Ed

Calling education a “top-tier issue” in this year’s election, a new College Board report shows that swing state voters emphasize education as much as health care despite a comparative lack of attention from candidates. In a representative sample of about 200 registered voters surveyed in each of nine swing states, 67 percent of respondents called education an extremely important issue for this year’s election. Only jobs and the economy (82 percent) and government spending (69 percent) scored higher. While Democratic voters tended to emphasize education more than independents and Republicans, a majority of survey-takers in all three categories said they considered education an extremely important issue in this year’s election. Of voters who say education is extremely important, more than half in all three political groups said they’d be willing to pay $200 more in taxes each year to support education.