Teach to the test? No thanks.
That’s the message Massachusetts voters appear to be sending in a new poll, with nearly six in 10 (57%) Bay Staters saying they support scrapping the MCAS examination as a high school graduation requirement.
Nearly 37% of the respondents to the new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll say they oppose the Nov. 5 ballot question asking voters to decide the fate of the standardized test.
A little less than 6% of respondents said they were undecided or refused to answer.
The MCAS ballot question is one of five that Massachusetts voters will be asked to decide as early voting begins statewide on Oct. 19.
The new poll of 500 Massachusetts likely voters, conducted from Oct. 1 to Oct. 5, also shows overwhelming support for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
- Read More: Election 2024: MCAS, mushrooms, more: What you need to know about the Mass. fall ballot questions
In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, Harris, the current vice president, leads former Republican President 61.2%-31.2%, the poll showed. Barely 3% of Bay State voters said they were undecided.
The poll had a margin of error of 4.4%.
Just three weeks before Election Day, Bay Staters also appear to have made up their minds in Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate race.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Cambridge, leads Republican hopeful John Deaton, of Swansea, 58.6%-35%, with just 6.4% saying they were undecided, according to the poll.
The ballot questions touch on a wide array of issues, with their approval potentially reshaping public policy across the commonwealth for years to come.
Forces on either side of the proposed questions are spending heavily to influence public opinion.
If the poll is an indication, those messages are getting across to voters on some of the questions.
Seven in 10 respondents (70.8%) support a question that would give state Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a former lawmaker, the authority to audit her onetime colleagues in the state Legislature.
Nearly six in 10 respondents (58.6%) support a question that would give ride-share drivers, such as those employed by Uber and Lyft, the right to form a union and collectively bargain.
Public opinion is more evenly divided, 46%-46% on a question that would provide limited legalization of psychedelic substances, with 5.6% undecided.
Respondents soundly opposed, 51.6%-39.6%, a question that would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, with 7.2% undecided, the poll showed.
