Poll Finds Little Overall Support for Zacarias

There is a dramatic division in the way whites and Latinos view the power struggle that has led to the move to oust Los Angeles schools Supt. Ruben Zacarias, but all ethnic groups agree on the need for change in the management of the school district, according to results of an independent poll issued Thursday.

The poll found that while Latinos are far more likely to support Zacarias than are whites or blacks, his support is soft even among his own ethnic group.

Only 40% of the Latinos polled said they thought Zacarias was doing a good or excellent job, while 43% said he wasn’t. And Latinos were the least likely of all ethnic groups to believe the move to replace Zacarias was racially motivated. An overwhelming 75% of Latinos--compared to 72% of whites and 58% of African Americans--said the board’s actions were not racially motivated.

Only 13% of whites and 18% of blacks said they thought Zacarias was doing a good or excellent job. Only 4% of all respondents thought the school district was well managed and in no need of change.

The poll of 496 school district voters, by GLS Research of San Francisco, was conducted from Sunday evening to Wednesday evening, before most would have been aware of the board’s plan to offer a buyout to Zacarias.

“White and Latino voters have very different views on this conflict, but at the same time, they have a common fear that the debate is dividing the city by race,” said pollster Paul Goodwin.

“And they both think we need to make immediate change to improve the schools, and they both think the board should not act without adequate public notice. So they have a different idea about what should happen, but they also have a lot in common.”

While support for Zacarias was weak, the poll’s respondents saved their harshest assessment for the school board. Nearly three-quarters said the board was doing only a fair or poor job. Surprisingly, given the rancor the Zacarias issue has caused, the board’s strongest support came from Latinos.

Three in four Latinos said the board should choose the best candidate for superintendent regardless of race, though a slight majority also said, in answer to another question, that it was important that the superintendent be Latino. Whites and African Americans overwhelmingly said it wasn’t important.

A solid 63% of all respondents favored breaking up the school district. Only African Americans were opposed.

Not surprisingly, the poll found that support for a breakup was strongest in the San Fernando Valley and on the Westside, and weakest on the heavily Latino Eastside. But in no part of the city did a majority oppose the idea.

The poll had a relatively large margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.