Nearly Half of Americans View Teachers Unions Unfavorably

Almost half of Americans dislike teachers' unions, according to a new poll released Tuesday from Rasmussen Reports.

The new survey found nearly half -- 47 percent -- feel unfavorable about teachers' unions while a smaller amount -- 39 percent -- feel favorable about teachers' unions.

Thirty-nine percent believe, in terms of its impact on the nation, it's a bad thing that most teachers belong to public employee unions. One-third (33 percent) say it's a good thing most teachers belong to public employee unions.

Florida's largest teachers' union, the Florida Education Association, is comprised of 137,000 teachers statewide.

When it comes to how easy it is to get rid of poor teachers nationwide, more than half of Americans (61 percent) believe it's too hard to get rid of poor teachers. Only 6 percent say it's too easy to get rid of poor teachers while 20 percent say it's about right.

The national survey of 800 adults was conducted April 8-9 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.5 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.