Poll: Educators Support Stronger Laws to Prevent Gun Violence

Results of a new poll by the National Education Association (NEA) show educators support stronger gun laws to prevent gun violence and keep children safe. The poll comes as the White House is scheduled today to make public the recommendations of a task force led by Vice President Biden. The poll of the nation’s teachers, faculty and education support professionals comes one month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 20 children and 6 adults, including educators. NEA polled 800 of its members nationwide during the period of January 9-10, 2013.

“The senseless tragedy in Newtown was a tipping point and galvanization for action,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “As educators, we have grieved too long and too often—for the children killed, their families and heroic educators. Now more than ever we need to do what is necessary, including enacting stronger laws to prevent gun violence, to make sure every child in our nation’s public schools has a safe and secure learning environment.”

Key Findings:

• Educators overwhelmingly support stronger laws to prevent gun violence. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of NEA members polled feel gun laws in the U.S. should be made stricter, compared to 7 percent who believe they should be less strict.
• NEA members polled support background checks and bans on assault weapons and high capacity magazine clips.
• 90 percent of NEA members favor a proposal to require background checks before people can buy guns at gun shows or from other private sellers, including 85 percent who strongly back this proposal.
• 76 percent of NEA members support a proposal to ban the sale and possession of military-style semi-automatic assault weapons to everyone except the police and military, including 70 percent who strongly favor this proposal.
• 69 percent of NEA members back a proposal to ban the sale and possession of high capacity magazine clips, which allow some guns to shoot more than 10 bullets before they need to be reloaded, including 64 percent who strongly support this proposal.
• America’s educators resoundingly reject the notion of arming school employees. Only 22 percent of NEA members polled favor a proposal to allow teachers and other school employees to receive firearms training and allow them to carry firearms in schools, while 68 percent oppose this proposal (including 61 percent who strongly oppose it.)

Campaign 2012 Election Live Blog

12:09 p.m.
We're closing down the live blog. We'll be bringing all the relevant election results tomorrow, ahem, later today, - school levies, state board of ed, state legislature.

11:27 p.m.
Obama projected to win NV

11:27 p.m.
Incumbent house GOPers appear to have lost: Craig Newbold in HD5 to challenger Nick Barborak 50.44% to 49.56% and Rep. Casey Kozlowski has lost to John Patterson 52.78% to 47.22%.

11:13 p.m.
NBC calls Ohio for Obama. President Obama will be reelected to a second term.

11:10 p.m.
IA called for Obama. Romney now has to run the table to win.

11:02 p.m.
CO, CA, WA, HI called for Obama.
NC, ID, Called for Romney
Too early to call in OR

10:54 p.m.
Sadly, it looks like teachers Donna O'Connor (HD21) and Maureen Reedy (HD24) are going to narrowly lose

10:49 p.m.
MO called for Romney

10:44 p.m.
MN called for Obama

10:36 p.m.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown trails Sharon Kennedy 43%-57% of the vote, with 54% reporting

10:34 p.m.
As expected, Mitt Romney wins AZ.

10:32 p.m.
Teachers Tanyce Addison (SD26) and Teresa Scarmack (SD-20) are both trailing 40-60, with few precincts left to report.

10:17 p.m.
Ohio state Issues 1 & 2 both going down b y 69% and 64% respectively with 51% of precincts reporting.

10:13 p.m.
As of this time, in the race for the Ohio State Board of Education...
QB Stanley Jackson looks destined for defeat trailing 35-65
Districts 5 & 6 are close
Sarah Fowler, a 23 year old home schooler is going to win in District 7
Pro public education candidates Stephanie Dodd and Mary Rose Oakar are headed to victory
Tood Book, sadly looks destined for defeat.

9:35 p.m.
Another swing state, NH, is called for Obama.

9:26 p.m.
AP Calls Sherrod Brown reelected as Senator from Ohio

First swing state, WI called for Obama

9:15 p.m.
PA called for Obama

Education related, voters in South Dakota so far want to keep teacher tenure. 70 against repealing it, 29% for.

9:03 p.m.
All as expected...
NM, NY, MI are called for Obama.
TX, LA, KS, NE, ND, SD, WY, are called for Romney
AZ, MN, PA too early to call

8:32 p.m.
Teacher Donna O'Connor: 11,558, Duffey (Incumbent) 10,776 in early/absentee voting
Teacher Maureen L. Reedy: 12,082, Stephanie Kunze: 10,535 in early/absentee voting

8:29 p.m.
According to early vote totals Issue 2 is doing very badly. 57 of 88 counties have voted against measure.

8:03 p.m.
DC, DE, RI, ME, CT, MD, MA and IL are called for Obama.
MS, TN, AL, OK are called for Romney
Still too early to call in PA, NJ, MO, OH, NC, VA, FL

7:42 p.m.
Folks are still in line to vote in a number of locations around Ohio, including OSU

7:37 p.m.
SC called for Romney as expected.

7:32 p.m.
As expected so far. CNN calls WV, IN, KY, for Romney. VT for Obama.

A CNN exit poll has Obama 51, Romney 48 in Ohio. Exit poll in NC was 49-49 which was supposed to be Romney +4%

7:30 p.m.
The polls in Ohio are closed, and is being categorized as "too close to call" by NBC.

7:16 p.m.
Here's the times for poll closings:
7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
8:30 pm: AR
9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
1:00 am: AK

An AFL poll of Ohio union members has found that SB5 has had a significant effect on union members

Ohio union members are energized and overwhelmingly supporting President Obama and Senator Brown for reelection.

By a 41-point margin, Ohio union members are voting for President Obama (70%) over Mitt Romney (29%) in the presidential race. The early vote among Ohio union members tilts even more heavily in President Obama’s favor (79% to 21%).

Obama’s support among Ohio union members has increased by five percentage points since 2008. Our Election Night and post-election polling in 2008 showed Obama winning 65% of the Ohio union vote, so even accounting for each poll’s margin of error, Obama currently is performing at least as well among Ohio members, if not better, than he did in 2008.

Senator Sherrod Brown also is in a strong position to win Ohio thanks to strong support among the state’s union members, among whom he leads Josh Mandel by 70% to 29%.

According to an NEA poll, 8 out of 10 people had education as a top priority.

The NYT has an interactive tool that will show you who needs what states to win.

Official live results can be seen at the Secretary of States website, here.

Where the polls stand - 22 days to go

With just over 3 weeks remaining until the November 6th election, Presidential polling has gotten a lot tighter, with the Presidents large lead having been eroded since the first debate.

Real Clear Politics now has the President ahead by just 10 Electoral College votes, with 146 up for grabs.

The NYT pollster has the President projected to win in the narrowest of fashions to date, too

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the race has tightened too, but remains a crucial firewall for the President

As you can see from the graph below, Mitt Romney has never led in Ohio

These polling leads in Ohio are confirmed by actual votes currently being cast early

A new poll shows President Obama with a commanding 59-31 percent lead among those who have already voted, with seven percent of those surveyed saying they have already cast their ballot.

A second poll, from PPP, showed similar results

The key finding on this poll may be how the early voters are breaking out. 19% of people say they've already cast their ballots and they report having voted for Obama by a 76-24 margin. Romney has a 51-45 advantage with those who haven't voted yet, but the numbers make it clear that he already has a lot of ground to make up in the final three weeks before the election.

The President is being projected to win Ohio by the NYT polling analyst, but by the smallest probability we have seen to date

Where the polls stand - 6 weeks out

With just 6 weeks of campaigning left, the President continues to hold a strong position.

In the Electoral College, Real Clear Politics calculates that the President currently holds the edge with 247 votes to Mitt Romney's 191, an increase of 10 votes for the President since last week.

In Ohio, all polling continues to show the President with a small, but significant lead.

The NYT polling analyst, 538, also shows President Obama with a large projected win in the electoral college

In Ohio, President Obama is projected to have a 76.5% chance of prevailing - his largest margin to date.

Not included in these analysis is a just released poll by Ohio's newspapers, which showed the Presdient leading Mitt Romney 51-46. The very same poll also confirmed polling trends that Sen. Sherrod Brown leads Josh Mandel by a sizable margin 52-45

No one trusts Gov Kasich with ed policy

"A new poll shows the majority of Ohioans strongly support their local schools, want funding cuts restored to local schools and governments, and oppose public funding for private and parochial school tuition." ~ that's how a new poll just published describes its findings with regards to education in Ohio.

The poll was commisnios by the Ohio schoo administrators, OSBA, OASBO and BASA.

The poll found that no one trusts the Govenor nor his legislture on education issues.

When it comes to education policies, which of the following would you say that you have the most trust and confidence in to make good decisions? Is it the ...(randomly rotated).....

Governor, State School Superintendent, State Legislature or your local School Board?

63.9% Local School Board
14.5% State School Superintendent
7.4% Unsure/no answer
6.6% Governor
3.3% State Legislature
2.9% Other (volunteered)
1.3% All/combination (volunteered)

Just as bad perhpas is how the Governor and his education privatization policies are being viewed

The poll found nearly two-thirds of Ohioans oppose using public funds to pay tuition for students to attend private and parochial schools.

And finally, despite a constant drumbeat regarding school report cards, people have very mixed views

Fifty percent of Ohioans said it is a good idea to use student test data to rate the quality of school districts, and 41% said it was a bad idea.

Forty-eight percent of Ohioans said their district’s local report card rating was “somewhat” influential

Corporate education reformers are severely out-running where public opinion is at.

Where the polls stand - Week 1

Labor Day has traditionally been seen as the kick-off for the fall campaigns. With that now behind us, we are going to begin a new weekly feature up through the election on November 6th, and bring you all the latest polling information for the Presidential race both nationally and in Ohio.

First, Real Clear Politics has President Obama leading in the race to 270 electoral college votes, 221-191 with 126 listed as toss-ups

In Ohio, with the exception of a purple strategies poll, the President has consistently led in the polling

538, another polling analysis site, run by the New York Times, runs a sophisticated and accurate analysis based on multiple factors. They currently have the President winning over 308 electoral college votes.

They have President Obama having a 71.5% chance of winning Ohio on November 6th.