Wampum

Via Political Wire, I found a fifty state Survey USA poll about child discipline. Survey USA asked three questions:

-- Do you think it is OK to spank a child?

-- Do you think it is OK for a school teacher to spank a student?

-- Do you think it is OK to wash a child's mouth out with soap?

Red sates were generally more supportive of each type of discipline than blue states. On the first question, 87% of Alabamans thought it was ok to spank a child, with ten red states above 80%. No blue state was higher than Maryland and Washington state’s 73% while approval of spanking was at or below 65% in ten states with Vermont having the lowest at 55%.

Spanking by a teacher is much less popular with only four Southern states (Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee) giving majority approval.

Teacher spanking is very unpopular in blue states with New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire providing 10% or lower support.

Washing a child’s mouth out with soap is uniformly unpopular, with approvals mostly in the twenties to low-thirty range. Indiana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana were the only states where washing a child’s mouth out with soap garnered even 40% approval.

The problem with polls like that is that they never ask the important questions. I looked all over the poll and could not find out how many people approve of washing a child’s mouth out with food. That is some polling advice I could use.