Education

Majority Of Republicans Support Arming Teachers: Poll

(JASON CONNOLLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Zachery Schmidt Contributor
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Parents have to worry now more than ever about violence when they send their children off to school.

Many ideas exist on how to ensure and preserve school safety, but one recent poll shows the majority of Republican parents support arming teachers and staff members.

Republican parents (57 percent) support arming school employees, while only 17 percent of Democratic parents back the initiative. Politically independent parents are torn, with 39 percent supporting the arming of school staff, according to the Phi Delta Kappa 2018 Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

On average, about 34 percent of all parents support arming teachers.

As for arming school police officers, 80 percent of parents expressed support, 76 percent backed student mental health screenings, and 74 percent supported the use of metal detectors at school entrances.

Of gun-owning parents, 55 percent expressed support for arming school personnel.

The poll also noted that 34 percent of parents in 2018 worried about with their child’s physical safety, up from 12 percent in 2013.

The survey included responses from 1,042 adults — 515 of which were parents of K-12 students. “Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.9 points for the full sample and 5.5 points for the sample of parents.”

Previously, a YouGov poll cited similar responses about parents supporting the arming of teachers, with 69 percent of Republicans in favor.