Tulsa World: Education of foremost concern, Oklahoma Poll finds

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer

Education may not have been the deciding issue for Oklahoma voters in Tuesday’s election, but it certainly was a big one.

In a survey conducted Oct. 25-29 by SoonerPoll, nearly one-third of those responding said education is the state’s most pressing problem.

While education has usually ranked among the top three responses in the 21 years the Oklahoma Poll has asked the question, its 31.2 percent share this time was the highest since early 2003.

“It kind of gets put on the back burner,” said poll participant Heather Williams of Inola. “I don’t think it is a priority to be at the top. That’s why (college graduates) with teaching certificates are moving to other states.

And I’m disheartened to see a lot of older teachers still teaching because they have to.”

Second on the most-pressing problem list was jobs and the economy, at 22 percent, followed by political leadership at 16 percent.

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About the Oklahoma Poll

The poll of 404 likely voters registered in Oklahoma was conducted Oct. 25-29 by SoonerPoll.com and included 136 cellphone and 268 landline users. The poll was sponsored by the Tulsa World. The margin of error ±4.87 percentage points.

Poll results were weighted by age, gender and congressional district, stratified by Oklahoma likely voters statewide. This poll conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. A complete description of the methodology can be found here.