What does the poll tell us about the people who are not interested in directing tax dollars to a national commitment to afterschool? And can we win them to our side?
A. There are two segments to that community, and it is not a very large community since 94 percent of voters support some kind of organized activity after school. The first segment would be people who ideologically oppose the government, at any level, being involved in caring for our nation’s children. They see that to be a direct familial responsibility, not one of the government and/or of taxpayer dollars. There is another segment for whom any kind of inferred investment, whether it be $100 or $1,000 per child per year, is a significant amount of money that is beyond their means. It would be very difficult to change the views of either of those groups. If, within some people’s minds, afterschool incurs a financial burden that they cannot assume, they are not going to be in a position to change their minds about that. If a person still has fundamental ideological concerns, we won’t be able to move that person either. Frankly, from a political perspective, the more important task is ma
