Statewide Parent Poll on School Safety
With gun safety proposals being debated in the legislature, Project Ready polled parents statewide to understand their position on gun control and school safety.
April 2022 – The Newark Parent Poll
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, parents face a number of challenges in the education and health of their children. For a closer look at how parents are faring, Project Ready commissioned a survey of Newark, New Jersey with Change Research.
The Black Woman’s Agenda Poll
Project Ready NJ commissioned this poll with brilliant corners Research and Strategies to center on the very real and lived experiences of Black women in America. It is our hope that this research is used to rally policymakers, politicians, and practitioners around a set of solutions and priorities that will result in multi-generational opportunity with Black women at the core. We are the driving force behind our communities, institutions, and systems: it is time for our power to be met with actions that enable us to thrive.
The poll found that Black women are acutely aware of the hurdles we must overcome in order to achieve success, with 39 percent identifying racial discrimination as the biggest impediment to their economic success, along with 33 percent who blame a lack of educational opportunities and 28 percent who see a lack of job opportunities as the greatest hurdle. In addition, 41 percent of Black women say they experience racism, and 30 percent experienced sexism in their everyday lives – insidious intersectionality that keeps us from taking professional risks to move up the ladder – or build our own.
Newark Youth Vaccine Focus Group
Project Ready partnered with Brown University and the United Way of Greater Newark to hold focus groups with Newark youth about the COVID-19 vaccines. We learned more about young people see the vaccines, common misinformation, and how to encourage more youth to get vaccinated.
September 2021 – The Newark Parent Poll
As schools return to in-person learning, our new poll of Newark parents finds widespread concern regarding Covid-19. We found that 87% of Newark parents are worried about their child contracting COVID-19. When parents were asked if they intended to send their child to school if only in-person learning is available, more than a quarter of parents said they either would not (10%) or were not sure (18%).
These numbers reflect the widespread concern among Newark parents who want their kids going to school in an environment that is safe. Public health measures in schools garnered support from a majority of parents, including mandatory masks for all students and mandatory vaccines for teachers and eligible students.
May Poll – School Reopening
Following Governor Murphy’s announcement that all New Jersey schools will return to full-time, in-person learning in the fall, we conducted a statewide poll of 1,215 New Jerseyans to find out what parents think of the decision. The poll found support for returning to full-time, in-person learning overall, with 86 percent of New Jerseyans and 88 percent of parents supporting the idea. However, the survey also found significant disparities between what Black and white residents think about the decision. Black residents were 5 times as likely as white respondents (20% to 4%) to say they are opposed to a full reopening in the fall. While 90% of white parents support the move, only 66% of Black parents do.
May Poll – ARP Funding Memo
As the New Jersey Department of Education recently announced grant amounts to school districts from the American Rescue Plan, we commissioned a poll by Change Research of 1,215 New Jersey voters to understand how residents want to see the funding used and how they’d like to see school districts engage community members to inform local decision making. By a large margin, parents want school districts to engage in an inclusive, transparent process.
May Poll – COVID-19 Vaccines
NEWARK – As coronavirus infection rates drop and vaccines become available to adolescents, new polling of New Jersey finds that significant gains have been made when it comes to increasing Black and Hispanic voters’ willingness to be vaccinated, even as those communities currently have the lowest vaccination rates.
Feb. COVID-19 Poll – Schools + Economy
As the country slowly recovers from the ravages of the second wave of coronavirus that hit us this winter in both New Jersey and nationally, we commissioned a Change Research survey of New Jersey voters to assess their concerns with the virus, the COVID-19 vaccine, and its impact on personal finances and public education.
Feb. COVID-19 Poll – National Issues
In the coming weeks, Democrats in the House and Senate are expected to advance President Biden’s COVID rescue package. We commissioned a Change Research survey of New Jersey voters to measure public opinion on the rescue package and other key issues that may or may not be included in the bill.
Feb. COVID-19 Poll – Vaccine
As the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines ramps up both locally and nationally, we commissioned a Change Research survey of New Jersey voters to measure whether public opinion has shifted since the vaccines were first approved in late 2020.
Nov. COVID-19 Poll
As the country has descended into a second wave of coronavirus, both in New Jersey and nationally, we commissioned a Change Research survey of New Jersey voters to assess their concerns with the virus as well as a COVID-19 vaccine. We found that while the virus has impacted nearly everyone, residents of color and low-income residents have experienced the worst of the pandemic in terms of both economic and health impacts on their lives. When it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine, data suggests that a public information campaign and focused outreach to communities of color will be necessary and important.
Voting Survey
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey implemented a number of reforms with the goal of making voting safer, easier and more inclusive ahead of the general election in November. Data shows that New Jerseyans then turned out to vote in record numbers. We commissioned a survey of 958 New Jersey voters with Change Research to assess their experiences with voting in the past, with these reforms, and look closer at additional measures the state could implement to increase access to voting.