Be Careful What You Think The Public Thinks About Tenure
Monmouth University polling director Patrick Murray offered this response to my criticism of how he described tenure in a recent poll of New Jersey public opinion (see my brief reply and Bruce Baker’s as well).
I’m not particularly keen on arguing about the wording of poll questions. As I stated in my original post, wordings are never perfect, and one must always take this into account when trying to interpret polling results. I took issue with Monmouth’s phrasing because it is demonstrably inaccurate, nothing more.
But I do want to quickly add that, as is often the case, responses to poll questions about tenure are very sensitive to the nature of the description offered. A 2009 PDK/Gallup poll provides an illustration.
The poll split the sample into halves, with each half offered a different description of tenure.
One half of those polled were asked:
Most public school teachers have tenure; that is, after a two- or three-year period, they receive
