KAET-ASU Poll

A new statewide telephone poll of 419 registered voters conducted by KAET-TV/Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University Nov. 17-20, 2005, found that a majority (63 percent) of those surveyed support the requirement that seniors must pass the AIMS test before receiving a graduation certificate. The survey also found, however, that Arizonans feel students who fail the test should be given options to pass it.

For instance, 95 percent said they feel those who fail should be given a chance to retake the test. Also, when asked an open-ended question about what should happen to students who don't pass the AIMS test, 22 percent of those responding said students should be able to retake their senior year or retake the classes necessary to pass the test. Seventeen percent said the students who fail should be given individual tutoring, 11 percent said students should be able to keep taking the test until they pass it and 11 percent said the schools should make weekend or summer classes available to students.

Finally, 82 percent of all registered voters believe that the profits being reported by oil companies are extremely excessive (52 percent) or excessive (30 percent). Ten percent said they felt the profits being reported were about right. Those responding to the survey also were asked what they felt should be done about the high profits being reported by oil companies. Twenty-seven percent said they would support federally imposed price controls on gasoline and 23 percent said the government should put a cap or limit on the amount of profit an oil company could make. Other suggestions were to develop more alternative-fuel cars (14 percent) and to call for a congressional investigation in to the situation (11 percent).

The survey has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.8 percent. Sixty percent of the interviews were conducted in Maricopa County, 17 percent in Pima County, and 23 percent in the less populated counties. The sample was 40 percent Republican, 35 percent Democrat and 25 percent independent or other. Fifty-two percent of voters interviewed were female and 48 percent were male. Data were weighted to ensure the proper balance of males and females.

1. In Arizona, high school students must pass the AIMS test, which tests their proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics, before they can graduate from high school. Do you think students should or should not be required to pass the AIMS test before they graduate?

2. If a student does not pass the AIMS test, do you think the student should be allowed to retake the test?

3. If a student does not pass the AIMS test, do you think the student should receive a high school diploma with a notation indicating that he or she did not pass the test?

4. Do you have any other ideas about what should happen to the students who don't pass the AIMS test? If so, what would you suggest?

5. Do you think the profits oil companies have been making recently are extremely excessive, excessive, about what they probably should be or less than one might expect based on what has been happening recently?

6.ASK ONLY IF ABOVE IS EXTREMELY EXCESSIVE OR EXCESSIVE: What do you think should be done to curtail excessive oil company prices?