Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans agree with President Obama’s proposal to require all schools nationwide to follow the same standards for curriculum and grading.

Thirty-five percent (35%) oppose the president’s plan, and 21% are not sure which is best in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Sixty-five percent (65%) favor merit pay, saying excellent teachers should be rewarded with extra money. Twenty-two percent (22%) disagree, and 13% are not sure.

Americans are evenly divided over whether weaker teachers should get pay cuts: 41% say yes, the same number say no. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it's in the news, it's in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates also available on Twitter.

The president’s plan outlined in a speech Tuesday to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is sure to cause some unhappiness across the political spectrum. Conservatives strongly favor setting education standards at the local level, while the liberal teachers’ unions frown on merit pay.

Most U.S. voters believe that teachers are paid too little. Sixty-six percent (66%) also say the teachers’ unions – the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers – are more interested in protecting their members’ jobs than in the quality of education.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats support the president’s plan for national standards, but 57% of Republicans are opposed. The plurality of adults not affiliated with either party favor uniform standards nationwide by a 17-point margin.

Solid majorities of Democrats (64%), Republicans (67%) and those who are not affiliated (63%) are in favor of giving excellent teachers extra pay.
But when it comes to cutting the pay of existing teachers who don’t perform as well, the numbers shift dramatically. Forty-seven percent (47%) of Republicans think weaker teachers should get pay cuts, but 36% disagree. Among Democrats, 35% favor cuts, while 46% are opposed. Forty-three percent (43%) of unaffiliateds say pay cuts for teachers who perform poorly are a good idea, but 38% don’t think so.

Americans with children in the home are evenly divided on the president’s proposal for national curriculum and grading standards, while those without children living with them support the plan by a 47% to 31% margin.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans with children at home support merit pay, and they favor cutting the pay of weaker teachers by a six-point margin.

Last September, 81% of adults rated the performance of their children’s schools as good or excellent.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of all Americans say they have followed recent news stories about Obama’s education plan at least somewhat closely, with 25% following Very Closely. Ten percent (10%) are not following reports about the president’s plan at all.

In the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday, 38% of voters Strongly Approve of Obama’s job performance, while 29% Strongly Disapprove.

Voters by 11 points trust Democrats more on education issues than Republicans.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.