Voters Support Afterschool Programs

The results of a new public opinion survey, which was conducted recently for the Afterschool Alliance by Lake Snell Perry & Associates and The Tarrance Group, indicate that large, bipartisan majorities of American voters support expanding afterschool programs in their communities and around the nation.

Seven in 10 voters want afterschool programs to be available to all children even if it means increasing the current $846 million federal appropriation by an additional $800 million per year. That support crosses all lines: Republicans support the increase by a margin of 62 to 26; Democrats by a margin of 78 to 10; women by a margin of 2 to 17; men by 66 to 18; married voters by 70 to 16; and single voters by 71 to 15.

According to the poll, the fourth one in a series funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation and JCPenney, most voters are also willing to pay $100 more per year in state taxes to make afterschool programs available.

The poll found that almost nine in ten voters (86 percent) agree that “there should be a national commitment to making sure every child has a space in an afterschool program.” In addition, nearly three in five voters (58 percent) say they think the federal government is spending too little on afterschool programs, and 59 percent say their state governments are spending too little.

The Afterschool Alliance is a coalition of public, private and nonprofit entities dedicated to ensuring that all children have access to afterschool programs by 2010. Information on the Afterschool Alliance and the public opinion survey are available at www.afterschoolalliance.org. #

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