Washington, DC - October 9, 2012
A national survey released Tuesday shows that nearly 8 of 10 Democratic parents with school-aged children support abstinence education. A majority of Democratic parents also oppose President Obama's policy to eliminate federal funding of abstinence programs.
"If sex education were on the November ballot, abstinence education would win by a landslide, and not just among Republicans," said Valerie Huber, president of the National Abstinence Education Foundation (NAEF), which commissioned the survey.
"Critics portray abstinence education as a religious or political issue that has no place in our public schools. But this survey shows abstinence education is a women's issue, a Hispanic issue, an African-American issue, a health issue, and a common-sense issue with strong support across ethnic groups, age demographics and political affiliation."
While other surveys have addressed opinions on sex education in general with a question or two about abstinence education, this is the most extensive poll focusing specifically on abstinence education's approach and themes.
Conducted by Pulse Opinion Research in mid-September, the survey asked 23 questions of 1,683 parents across the country with children ages 9-16. The survey's margin of error is +/- 2 percentage points.
Other findings include:
- While nearly 8 of 10 Democrats support abstinence education, enthusiasm among Republicans is even higher with nearly 9 of 10 supporting.
- Almost 60% of Democrats and more than 70% of Republicans oppose President Obama's efforts to eliminate all fundign for SRA Abstinence Education.
- Democrats and Republicans alike support more equality in funding between Abstinence Education and "Comprehensive" Sex Education, which gets 16 times as much funding.
- More than 8 of 10 parents, but especially women and African Americans, support the dominant themes of Abstinence Education.
- Eighty-five percent of parents believe that all youth, including homosexual youth, benefit from skills that help them choose to wait for sex.
- Nearly 9 in 10 parents strongly support their children knowing the limitations of condoms for preventing pregnancy and disease.