EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 7 a.m. Friday, Nov. 8, 2002

Most Say Spankings OK by Parents
But Not by Grade-School Teachers

Spanking has its place, most Americans say but not in school.

The public by a 2-1 margin approves of spanking children in principle, and half of parents say they sometimes do it to their own kids. But an overwhelming majority in this ABC News poll disapproves of corporal punishment in the schools.

Sixty-five percent of Americans approve of spanking children, steady since 1990. But just 26 percent say grade-school teachers should be allowed to spank kids at school; 72 percent say it shouldnt be permitted, including eight in 10 parents of grade-schoolers.

Indeed, even among adults who spank their own child, 67 percent say grade-school teachers should not be permitted to spank children at school.

AT HOME Among parents with minor children at home, 50 percent report that they sometimes spank their child, while 45 percent do not. Thats about the same as it was in a Gallup poll a decade ago.

There are big regional differences in spanking. Among Southerners, 62 percent of parents spank their kids; that drops to 41 percent in the rest of the country. Similarly, 73 percent of Southerners approve of spanking children, compared to 60 percent elsewhere.

Even in the South, though, just 35 percent think spanking should be allowed in the schools. Support for spanking in the schools is about the same, 31 percent, in the Midwest, falling to 19 percent in the West and 13 percent in the East.

One other difference in spanking is among education groups. Among parents with college degrees, just 38 percent spank their kids; among less-educated parents, its 55 percent.

The U.S. Department of Education has reported that school-sanctioned spanking is most prevalent in Southern states Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Louisiana. This year Pennsylvania became the 28th state to ban spanking in schools but 22 states still allow it (although parents who object usually can withhold permission for school personnel to spank their kids).

METHODOLOGY - This ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 25-29, 2002, among a random national sample of 1,015 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Fieldwork by ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa.

Analysis by Julie Crandall.
ABC News polls can be found at ABCNEWS.com on the Internet at:
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/us/PollVault/PollVault.html
Media Contact: Cathie Levine, (212) 456-4934
Full results follow. *= less than 0.5 percent

1. Do you approve or disapprove of spanking children?

                              *2/97 and previous: Gallup

2. (PARENTS ONLY) Do you ever spank your child/any of your children, or not?

3. Do you think grade-school teachers should or should not be permitted to spank children at school?