HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 6, 2013 – A new HPU Poll finds that a large portion of North Carolinians say that public schools in the state are less safe than they were 10 years ago, while even more would prefer for all schools to have armed guards.
According to results, 42 percent of respondents said schools are now less safe than they were in the last decade, compared to 34 percent who said they are now safer and 13 percent who said they were about the same.
In addition, 55 percent of those interviewed said that armed guards should be on site at schools while 41 percent did not think that all schools should have armed guards.
“North Carolinians are concerned about school safety,” said Dr. Martin Kifer, director of the HPU Poll. “And this is part of a larger conversation about how to stop the violent crimes that have we see in the news with great frequency. The HPU Poll will examine this issue more closely in upcoming surveys.”
Education and School Safety:
Generally speaking, would you say that schools in North Carolina are safer or less safe for students and teachers than they were 10 years ago?
Safer – 34 percent
Less safe – 42 percent
About the same/ no difference – 13 percent
Don’t know/refused – 11 percent
Some people support hiring more armed guards to help keep schools safe, but other people have said that is not necessary. Do you think all schools should hire armed guards?
Yes, all schools should hire armed guards – 55 percent
No, not all schools need armed guards – 41 percent
Don’t know – 5 percent
(Refused) – Less than 1 percent
(all adults surveyed Jan. 27-31, n = 668 and margin of sampling error = +/- 3.8 percent)
The most recent survey was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Jan. 27-31, 2013. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 668 adults with landline or cellular telephones. The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International to acquire this sample. The survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 3.8 percentage points. The data are weighted when appropriate toward population estimates for cellular and landline telephone use, age, gender and race. In addition to sampling error, factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls.
Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past studies can be found at the Survey Research Center website at http://src.highpoint.edu/
Dr. Martin Kifer, assistant professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Dr. Sadie Leder, assistant professor of psychology, serves as the associate director of the HPU Poll.