Farris: Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Parental Rights
Dear Parental Rights Champion,
The highly acclaimed Zogby Poll has just released the results of the first in-depth analysis of our efforts to protect the right of American parents to raise their children free from improper governmental interference. I am thrilled to be able to present to you a summary of the findings from this brand new Zogby Poll.
First, here are some of the highlights from this poll:
The American public stands strongly behind parental rights. America does not want governmental or UN interference in the American family. The public supports a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of all parents.
Those are the headlines. And these findings are true—in varying degrees, of course—for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Support for parental rights comes from all regions of the country, all racial and religious groups, and at every level of income.
Here are the survey questions, in the order they were asked:
Poll Question 1
Do you agree or disagree with parents having the legal option to give their child a modest spanking?
The government elites are adamant in their opposition to traditional parenting practices. Chief on their list is the elimination of even modest spanking. The UN wishes to ban spanking through the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
But the American public thinks otherwise. On Question 1:
58.7% strongly agree
26.4% somewhat agree
6.0% somewhat disagree
6.9% strongly disagree
2.0% not sure
These are political landslide kinds of numbers.
Various subgroups view this parental right slightly differently (see the in-depth breakdown online), but a large majority of all groups agree. Americans are solidly united in support of parental rights to traditional, modest discipline.
Question 2
In general, parents have the constitutional right to make decisions for their children without governmental interference unless there is proof of abuse or neglect. Do you agree or disagree with this view of parental rights?
All American voters
73.6% strongly agree
20.0% somewhat agree
2.6% somewhat disagree
1.6% strongly disagree
2.2% not sure
The goal of the Parental Rights Amendment is to protect this historic understanding of parental rights. This question reveals that America is nearly unanimous in agreeing with this goal – 93.6% in overall agreement, and 4.2% in disagreement.
The sub-groups are available online, but let me include this one sample:
Conservative 98.4% agree 0.9% disagree
Moderate 91.4% agree 4.8% disagree
Liberal 91.6% agree 7.1% disagree
When 98.4% of conservatives and 91.6% of liberals agree on an issue, you know that America is truly united. Question 3
Would you support or oppose a constitutional amendment to permanently protect parental rights, allowing them to make decisions for their children without government interference, so long as there is no proof of abuse or neglect?
All American voters
45.9% strongly support
17.1% somewhat support
8.5% somewhat oppose
18.3% strongly oppose
10.2% not sure
It is important to note that this question does not make any argument as to why the Amendment is needed. If people were told that the Supreme Court had begun to move away from the traditional standard, the support would almost certainly be much higher. As it is, 63.0% of Americans support the Parental Rights Amendment with 26.8% opposed. Keeping in mind that well over 90% support the goal of the PRA, the opportunity to increase this number above 63% is very strong.
The sub-group views on this question are online here.
Again, a political election that is decided 63% to 26.8% is a called a landslide. America supports the PRA by numbers that represent a landslide even without an explanation of why it is needed.
Question 4
A United Nations treaty on children’s rights is currently being considered by the United States government. If this treaty made international law, it would trump some existing state laws on parents and children. Do you support or oppose this treaty?
All American voters
3.4% strongly support
8.2% somewhat support
9.9% somewhat oppose
44.5% strongly oppose
34.1% not sure
This question reveals a great amount of uncertainty, but for those that had an opinion, 5 Americans oppose the UNCRC for every 1 American that supports it. The question may have been confusing, because the next question clarifies the treaty just a bit and the results are very clear indeed.
Question 5
If you knew that the United Nations treaty on children’s rights would give government broad discretion to overrule parents and decide what it thinks is best for a child, would you support or oppose this treaty, or does it make no difference to your opinion?
1.5% strongly support
4.9% somewhat support
11.6% somewhat oppose
66.7% strongly oppose
4.5% no difference
10.9% not sure
With a single explanation of the effect of the CRC, the opinion of the vast majority of Americans becomes very clear. 78.3% oppose this treaty, and only 6.4% support it.
Opposition to the CRC is found in every political faction. Republicans oppose it 90.1% to 3.9%, Independents 78.5% to 5.2%, Democrats 67.0% to 9.5%. Even liberals opposed the CRC 56.3% to 15.7% - again, a landslide.
Analysis
The vast majority of the American electorate is on our side in this issue of parental rights. The level of support varies a bit from the “landslide” level on the low end up to “nearly unanimous” on the high end.
We have all known that our issue is right—legally and morally. These polls tell us that our issue is winnable.
The challenge we have is to get our message to the American public. If we can reach the public, we will win. It is that simple.
To reach the public we need resources. We need ads, we need earned media (which requires hard work from our staff to make it happen), and we need to use the internet more aggressively and more effectively.
All of these take a great deal of money. And our budgets are very modest. (By the way, I take no salary or expenses from Parentalrights.org.)
We believe that we have a very realistic shot at stopping the Convention on the Rights of the Child in this session of Congress. Right after the last election, Barbara Boxer promised that it would be ratified in this session.
I also believe that we have a realistic chance of passing the Parental Rights Amendment in the House early in the next term of Congress.
The public stands with us. If we can reach them with our message, the vast majority in Congress will listen to the voices of the voters.
Will you please help us with the very best gift you can so that we may reach the American public with our message and protect the rights of all parents for generations to come?
Thank you for helping us make history.
Warmest regards,
Michael Farris
