Poll: American Parents Favor Armed Teachers at Schools

Americans Overwhelmingly Say They Would Feel Safer If Armed Guards Were in Schools

President Trump holds a discussion about school shootings with governors at the White House, February 26, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)

While the overall public is more split on whether to allow armed teachers in public schools, a majority of American parents support the proposal. In the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump proposed allowing trained, armed teachers to defend children.

A new national survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports finds 52% of Americans with school-age children support the plan, while just 38% oppose it. That compares to a 48% to 43% split in the overall adult population in opposition. Married Americans favor the proposal 51% to 41%.

A whopping 72% of American parents said they “would feel safer” if their child attended a school “with an armed security guard,” and 66% of American adults overall also agree. Married Americans also agree by a large 71% to 20% margin.

A week after the high school shooting, the PPD-BDP Sunshine State Battleground Poll found Florida voters overwhelmingly favor posting armed personnel on campus during school hours over stricter gun laws, 56.7% to 43.3%, respectively.

“We’ve seen this many times before in the aftermath of a mass shooting. The immediate reaction gives stricter gun laws a bump in support,” Rich Baris, Director of Big Data Poll said. “We measured that in Florida a few days after the shooting, but warned readers that support was soft. It’s now collapsing.”

The national survey of 1,000 American adults was conducted from February 25-26, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The partisan split was 28% Republican, 35% Democrat and 37% “Other.”  The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. See methodology.