Rasmussen: Majority of Americans are not in Favor of Teacher’s Unions

A recent Rasmussen poll states that a majority of Americans thing that being a teacher is an essential and important job; however, it is a much different outcome when asked when teachers should be unionized. 46% say that unionized teachers are a bad thing, while only 37% say its good.  In other words, the public opinion is that unions offer nothing but a restriction to teachers and ultimately the students.

Americans continue to believe strongly that being a teacher is an essential job, but a plurality thinks it’s a bad thing that most teachers are unionized.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of American Adults view being a teacher as one of the most important jobs in our country today, down five points from May of last year but up slightly from when we first asked the question in May 2008. Twenty-one percent (21%) say it’s not one of the most important jobs, and 12% aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

2 Responses to “Rasmussen: Majority of Americans are not in Favor of Teacher’s Unions”

1. rightknight on February 26th, 2011 2:41 pm

   Not sure to what degree the Department of Education’s
   fumbling contributes to the painfully poor results of our
   current public education process. Teachers work diligently
   within the confines of that faulty oversight, however, and
   should be paid fairly for their dedication. Bargaining for
   wages and benefits as much as twice that of the taxpayers
   for whom they work is not reasonable.

2. Steve on February 28th, 2011 10:31 am

   I found some additional parts of this poll quite interesting.

   Question 3 asked: “Is public school education a good investment for taxpayers?” . The interesting part is that no data was reported on this question. Why take a poll if not to report the data. What is being hidden here? Why?

   Question 7 asked about the level of teacher pay. The results said: “A plurality (45%) also believes public school teachers are paid too little, but that’s trending down from 51% last August and 57% in May 2008. Eighteen percent (18%) now say teachers are paid too much, while 32% think their level of pay is about right.”

   Apparently, only 1 in 5 think teacher pay is too high, and the public thinks, increasingly so, that teacher pay is too small.

   Although I may not understand the intricacies of reporting public polling results, I find it odd, and perhaps bizarre, that this poll repeats results from a separate poll (and question) already released. It seems to give the appearance of an agenda. Although the larger subject area being discussed overlaps between the 2 polls, the individual questions do not.

   In any case, if they wanted to address this specific topic, they were free to include the question here. I believe that a polling firm should avoid analysis of their results, as that adds opinion and perspective to what should be a data gathering activity.

Leave a Reply