New York’s Secret Social Conservatism

A new poll suggests that a majority of parents in New York City oppose distribution of Plan B to high school students:

Fifty-three percent of New Yorkers think that Department of Education should not be dispensing Plan B to high school students. A poll commissioned by the  Chiaroscuro Foundation  and conducted by Smith Johnson Research surveyed 600 New Yorkers on the New York City Department of Education’s controversial CATCH program, and on their opinions of abstinence education. Complete poll results are available at  nycparentschoice.org . [ . . . ]

The Chiaroscuro Foundation released the entire poll including the crosstabs for the sample of 600 and the crosstabs for the oversampled under 55 demographic which had a representative sample of 400. “There should be no question about the soundness of the methodology,” said Pfundstein.

There is also strong support for abstinence education:

Among all parents, more than 75% of respondents would support abstinence education that teaches healthy relationship skills. Close to 71% of respondents would support abstinence education that teaches the facts about contraception while promoting delaying sex as the best choice for teenagers.

A small glimpse of New York’s (usually well hidden) social conservatism. Notwithstanding the policies of their political elites, average New Yorkers are far less liberal on matters of sexuality and marriage than their counterparts in more upscale “blue” cities like Berkeley, Cambridge, Ann Arbor.