Media Claims Americans Don’t Support Florida Education Bill, Poll Says Differently
Two of America's largest news outlets have reported drastically different findings from polls regarding the Florida education bill.
Many argue that the news is subjective. Along with this, the media is often polarized by a political party. This notion is something the United State’s largest and best-known news outlets have been accused of at growing proportions, as Fox News recently called out ABC News for skewing a poll regarding the recent and controversial Florida education bill.
According to a new report from Fox, ABC released a poll last week in regards to the Florida education bill dealing with gender identity discussions in the classroom. In conclusion, ABC suggested that most Americans were against the legislation. However, two other polls conducted recently tell a different story.
The Florida education bill in question has garnered National attention since its passing in Congress recently. The bill is titled the Parental Rights bill, however, proponents have dubbed it the Don’t Say Gay bill. The wording in the bill that has become so controversial seeks to limit classroom discussions and teachings on gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade. Backers of the bill believe it will protect children from harmful conversations not age-appropriate, but adversaries believe it will only harm LGBTQ initiatives by preventing children from discussing their identity.
The ABC News poll was conducted with Ipsos. They found that more than six out of ten Americans opposed legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school. The wording in the poll did mention the discussions in elementary school, but Fox News reports that the poll was obscured because it failed to mention that the Florida education bill was targeted at grades kindergarten through third.
Among the respondents in the ABC poll, 20% of Democrats supported the Florida education bill. Additionally, 35% of independents and 61% of Republicans showed approval of the legislation. On top of the findings, the ABC/Ipsos surveyors acknowledged it had “oversampled” those who identify as LGBTQ when it found that 87% of the opponents’ answers were weighted to match their “correct proportion” within the broad population.
Since the results were shared with ABC News, two new polls regarding the same Florida education bill have emerged. Their results drew some strikingly different findings. The two other polls were conducted by Politico with Morning Consult and The Daily Wire with Lucid.
The poll executed by Politico asked a similar question but made sure to include that the Florida education bill was targeted at the lowest grade levels of children. In contrast to ABC’s survey, Politico concluded that only 37% of Americans opposed the bill, with a little more than half of Americans either strongly or somewhat supporting it. In regards to party affiliation, the Politico survey found that 70% of Republicans were in favor of the bill, 46% of Independents supported it, and 35% of Democrats additionally backed the legislation.
The survey produced by Daily Wire and Lucid also showed drastically different results. This poll suggested that a shocking 64% of Americans supported the bill – almost a completely opposite conclusion to what ABC News reported. Like the Politico poll, this one also noted that the Florida education bill specifically targeted kindergarten through third-grade students. Out of all three surveys, this one showed the broadest support across party lines, with support from 69% of Republicans, 57% from Independents, and a whopping 62% support from Democrats.
The surveys regarding the Florida education bill are surely telling on how subjective surveys can be. But whether or not the rest of America supports the legislation, Florida’s lawmakers have voted the Parental Rights bill through congress. It is next headed for the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who will surely sign it into law.
