Regardless of age, income or gender, nearly 9 out of 10 Florida voters, including many who describe themselves as evangelical Christians, believe public schools should offer some form of sex education. Voters who describe themselves as evangelical or fundamentalist Christians are only slightly less likely to agree that students need to hear about more than abstinence.
An overwhelming 78% of registered voters support a proposal that would require sex education to be taught in Florida public schools. When asked about the different approaches to sex education, 73% of all voters believe public schools should teach a comprehensive sex education program.
Support for a comprehensive program is strong among voters in all regions of the state, as well as among voters who are Hispanic, African American, senior (age 65+), and parents of school-aged children. 72% of Hispanic voters favor a comprehensive approach to sex education over an abstinence-only approach.
Over half of all voters say they are more likely to support a state legislator who favors requiring comprehensive sex education in Florida (57% more likely to support—31% no affect on support—12% less likely to support).
Geographically the support for comprehensive sex education is consistent statewide. More than 84% of voters in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the Panhandle regions say that it is important to teach comprehensive sex education in public schools.
And across party lines, there is overwhelming support among Republicans, Democrats and Independents (Democrats 85% support—Independents 82%—Republicans 68%).
Only 5% of all voters polled say that young people learn the majority of their information about sexual health and behavior at home—a number that remains unchanged, even among parents. These voters do not believe that sex education is happening in the home, but instead, the media, internet and teen peer groups have become the primary providers of this education.
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| Floridians Agree - Polling on Sex Education.pdf [1] | 129.69 KB |
Links:
[1] http://www.healthyteensflorida.org/sites/healthyteensflorida.org/files/Floridians Agree - Polling on Sex Education_0.pdf