Most Iowa voters disagree with GOP governor on reopening schools: poll

Most Iowa voters disagree with Gov. Kim Reynolds’s (R) plan to reopen schools, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Monmouth University Poll found bipartisan opposition to Reynolds’s plan to require students to spend at least half of their time in an in-person classroom. A total of 69 percent of respondents said local school districts instead should be able to determine how much teaching will be done in-person, while 24 percent agree with the governor’s plan. 

Eighty-five percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans questioned said individual school districts should decide.

But partisan differences emerge when asking about whether there should be any in-person instruction this year. Overall, 54 percent of the Iowa voters said some in-person learning should be required, while 37 percent said all education should be conducted remotely.

Approximately three in four Republicans — 76 percent — said some in-person instruction should be mandatory, while 31 percent of Democrats agreed. Fifty-two percent of independents thought students should have to experience some form of in-person learning. 

The poll surveyed 401 registered voters from Iowa between July 30 to Aug. 3. The margin of error amounts to 4.9 percentage points. 

The results came after Reynolds announced Tuesday that any schools that do not host at least half of classes in-person will not receive instructional hour credit for their unapproved remote learning time. 

“I want to be very clear: Schools that choose not to return to school or at least 50 percent in-person instruction are not defying me, they’re defying the law,” Reynolds said.

Iowa has confirmed a total of 46,490 coronavirus cases and 893 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The New York Times categorizes Iowa as a state where new cases are “mostly the same.”