Civil Beat Poll - Hawaii Voters Lack Confidence in Department of Education

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Nearly 60 percent of Hawaii Voters have no confidence in the Department of Education delivering on its Race to the Top promises, according to a new Civil Beat Poll.

And although Gov. Neil Abercrombie has blamed the teachers union for the lack of progress, the poll indicates neither side has an edge in voters' eyes.

The automated telephone survey of 1,358 likely voters found they place blame for the problems facing Hawaii's educational system equally on the government and union. Asked who is "most responsible" for the problems, 35 percent answered government, 32 percent said the union, 25 percent cited both and 8 percent were unsure.

When it came to Race to the Top, 59 percent of voters said they have no confidence in the state. Just 25 percent said they had confidence, with 16 percent unsure. The margin of error is +/- 2.7 percent.

The poll was conducted on Jan. 18 and 19, just before teachers resoundingly rejected a new six-year contract that the state said would have helped it allay the concerns of the federal Department of Education that not enough progress is being made on meeting the state's commitments.

The poll explored questions about Race to the Top, the new appointed Board of Education and responsibility for education problems. (Read the complete results at the bottom of this article.)

When it came to the education board, whose members were appointed by Abercrombie last year after voters in 2010 opted to drop an elected board in favor of giving the governor more authority for education, opinions were divided.

Asked which board they had more confidence in, the appointed one or the elected one, 36 percent said the former and 29 percent the latter. A sizable group, 20 percent, said they had the same level of confidence in both boards, and 15 percent of voters were unsure.

Among the poll's findings about the Department of Education and Race to the Top:

• Men, Women, Young to Old, All Split Roughly the Same Way: There's no gender gap when it comes to Race to the Top. Twenty-five percent of men and women have confidence in the state fulfilling its promises. Roughly 60 percent don't. No age group has a majority who have confidence in the department.

• Party Does Matter: Republicans are even more unlikely than independents to have confidence, with 70 percent saying they don't have confidence and just 17 percent saying they do. Democrats and independents were much more closely aligned with 56 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents saying they have no confidence.

• Even Government Employees Don't Have Confidence: Fifty-five percent of voters who identified themselves as public employees said they have no confidence, just slightly lower than those who don't work for government, 61 percent of whom have no confidence. More public employees, 32 percent, have confidence than non-government employees.

• Education, Income, County of Residence Don't Affect Point of View: Voters at all levels of education and at all income levels answered the question in a similar way. As did voters in every county.

Among the poll's findings about the Board of Education:

• Public Employees More Likely To Favor Appointed Board: The poll found that 44 percent of voters who identified themselves as public employees think the appointed board is better, with 27 percent favoring an elected board and 18 percent saying they're the same. Eleven percent were unsure. When it came to non-governmental employees, 34 percent favored the appointed board and 29 percent backed the elected board. Twenty-one percent said they were the same, with 16 percent unsure.

• Wealthy More Likely to Favor Appointed Board: Forty-one percent of voters in households with incomes of more than $100,000 opted for the appointed board, with 25 percent picking the elected board and 21 percent saying they were the same. Thirteen percent were unsure. When it came to voters in households with incomes of less than $50,000, 34 percent picked the appointed board and 32 percent the elected board, with 22 percent saying they're the same and 12 percent unsure.

Finally, when it came to the question of who's most responsible for the problems facing Hawaii's educational system, some key findings included:

• Almost No Difference Between Republicans and Democrats: It turns out that essentially the same percentage of Democrats, Republicans and independents blame the government as blame the union, with independents more likely to place responsibility on both. The totals blaming the government ranged from 33 percent for Democrats to 37 percent for Republicans, barely outside the margin of error. Thirty percent of independents placed responsibility on both, up from 22 percent of Democrats and 21 percent of Republicans doing the same.

• Public Employees Not Different From Other Voters: There's almost no variance, with 33 percent of voters identifying themselves as public employees assigning responsibility for the problems to the government and 36 percent of non-governmental employees doing the same. The union gets identical results from both groups, 32 percent.

Complete results:

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