NEW MEXICO
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New Mexico Poll Findings

To:Interested Parties
From:Concord Public Opinion Partners
Re:New Mexico Statewide Survey Results
Date:

Key Findings

Democratic primary voters believe young people today will be worse off than previous generations: By a whopping 56-point margin (75% worse off / 19% better off) voters said today's young people will not do as well financially as their parents and grandparents. This pessimistic view is largely consistent with all voters regardless of race, age, party affiliation or parental status. In order to address this concern, voters prioritized improving the quality of schools 2nd (29%) behind only reducing the costs of everyday life like housing and groceries (50%).
Do you think young people today will be better off or worse off financially than previous generations of Americans?
Most voters know NM schools are behind the rest of the country: 68% said it was "the lowest or one of the lowest performing states" in math and reading proficiency. Hispanic and Native American voters were much more likely to feel that NM schools were doing better: 33% and 50% respectively said the state was "somewhere in the middle" when compared to other states in math and reading, only 16% of White voters felt this way.
How well would you say students in New Mexico public schools are doing in subjects like math and reading compared to other states?
Voters are deeply divided over different visions to improve education: When asked to pick one of three competing approaches towards schools in New Mexico from hypothetical candidates for Governor, voters were split almost evenly between messages that were directed at addressing problems in school directly and one that simply placed the burden for improving outcomes for kids on external factors completely outside of a school's control.
White voters and voters with college degrees are more likely to feel that external factors alone overwhelm schools and improvements are not possible: While voters of color and non-college voters are more likely to feel that improvements within schools are possible and needed, Hispanic voters favored the combined "improve education messages" over "external factors only" by +13 (50% to 27%) Native American voters by +36 (57% to 21%) while "improve education messages" lost out to "external factors only" among white voters by -12 (40% to 52%).
The next Governor should embrace new and proven approaches to prepare young people for success in education and the workforce: Improving access to quality school options including magnet schools, STEM academies, charter schools and tribal compact schools was especially popular with 79% of NM Democrats, including 85% of Hispanic voters and 86% of Native American voters.
An overwhelming majority of New Mexico primary voters support the federal school choice program: 69% of voters favor the Governor opting into the federal tax credit program with 24% opposing. While there's strong support across all age groups and demographics, the strongest support came from voters 18 - 34 years old (79% support), Native Americans (93% support), and voters without a 4-year college degree (75% support).

Methodology

This Concord Public Opinion survey was conducted between 08/30-09/02 with a sample size of 600 respondents. Data was collected by contacting NM likely Democratic primary voters via live calls to cell phones and landlines and Text-to-Web surveys. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.94%. Data was weighted by the following: Race, Age, Gender.