Americans support Trump plan for arming teachers, poll finds

By Kyle Perisic | The Daily Signal

Half of registered voters agree with President Donald Trump on arming teachers, according to a new poll.

Trump called for considering the training and arming of teachers in the wake of the deadly Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 people and wounded at least 14. He tweeted that teachers “and trusted people who work within a school” should receive a yearly bonus if they arm themselves.

Fifty percent of those polled support arming teachers, 43 percent oppose it, and 8 percent said they don’t know or had no opinion in the Morning Consult/Politico poll. The total didn’t equal 100 percent owing to rounding.

Asked whether they thought equipping teachers and school staff with concealed firearms to respond in the event of a school shooting would make schools more or less safe, or not have much impact either way, a plurality—39 percent—answered they would feel safer if teachers were armed. Twenty-nine percent said less safe, 20 percent said it would not make a difference either way, and 12 percent didn’t know or had no opinion.

Republicans favor arming teachers much more than Democrats, with 72 percent of the former supporting the idea and 61 percent of the latter opposing it.

Forty-one percent of the poll’s respondents own guns themselves.

Trump said it was “up to states” to pass legislation authorizing arming teachers, but Michael Steel, former spokesman for then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told the pollster that Trump has a chance to get something done nationally.

“I think because of the president’s extraordinarily close relationship with the [National Rifle Association] and his enormous credibility with base GOP voters on this issue, particularly strong in rural areas, I think he has the opportunity to get something done,” he said.

Morning Consult/Politico conducted the poll Feb. 22-26 among a national sample of 1,992 registered voters in online interviews. The data were weighted to match the demographics of registered voters, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2 percent.

There are eight states that already allow teachers to carry guns on K-12 school grounds, The Wall Street Journal reported, and six other states are considering legislation to allow teachers to carry.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/AntiqueGunRoom

3 thoughts on “Americans support Trump plan for arming teachers, poll finds

  1. To all the Liberals that think hugging a criminal or nut job is going to stop them from doing EVIL
    in our schools or taking guns from law abiding citizens is going to stop anything !!

    Time to wake up, your gun free zones only mean one thing , Welcome to the easy pickings just
    look at the data……………

    I don’t think arming some ” liberal teacher ” is the answer either,they don’t have the fortitude
    for the challenge. But we do have thousands of fully trained military personal looking for work
    and we know they have the fortitude !!

    And before some bleeding heart states that having armed personal will ” traumatize ” the kids,
    just think what they’ll go through after a shooting……………….. wake up , protect the Kids !!

    • I agree with you up to using military personnel. That would be a disaster. These are people who may have bravely served, but did they know WHO they were actually serving or WHY we feel the need to kill people on the other side of the planet. (We have killed a million Iraqi’s). People who will blindly kill ‘following orders’ are not the people I want guarding children at school. Most of these people have an aggressive ego and a violent way of dealing with problems. Cops, prison guards, and ex military all have high rates of domestic abuse and violence. Teachers on the other hand, at least for the most part, have much more of an empathetic outlook on life and are a far better person to have armed.

      • George , I have to disagree with your statement . A tested individual (Military) or a
        liberal thinking teacher to save a life ………………… No thanks .

        I can tell you never served ??

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