education? This confusion may have spread from elites to the masses, as Democratic respondents in
Table 1 were just as likely to report support for vouchers as they were to oppose it. Since Milton
Friedman’s treatise on school vouchers in 1962, Republicans have favored vouchers while Democrats
have been against them. We find that this pattern holds true among Latinos.
Finally, the results also suggest that knowledge is an important predictor of attitudes, and that
knowledge is generally pretty low. We generally do not believe that this calls into question the validity of
these opinions, as it is possible to have an uneducated, but valid, opinion about all sorts of things. The
general public tends to respond to cues from elites and currently, the message is mixed or absent. The
lack of knowledge certainly indicates that both parties and interest groups can do a much better job of
educating the general public about the bill. With knowledge at such a low level, it also makes it much
easier to frame the debate in any way these groups want. Supporters and opponents of NCLB can utilize
this lack of knowledge to influence opinion in any direction. All in all, we conclude that opinion on
NCLB, even support among Latinos, is largely still up for grabs. It depends heavily on how parties and
interest groups define these issues in the months and years to come.
19
Convention