Slate: Can Common Core Make It Anywhere?

Writing at Slate, David Weigel notes that, “in a very short time, opposition to Common Core has evolved from a fringe Republican position that blue-staters laugh at to a position that clearly wins out in blue New York.”

Ultimately, Weigel asks, “If Common Core can’t make it in New York, can it make it anywhere?”

Weigel is stunned by the results of last week’s Siena poll in New York State that found 49 percent of those polled opposed to the Common Core, as opposed to 39 percent who said the Common Core standards should continue to be implemented.

Among independents, 53 percent said Common Core should be stopped, compared to 39 percent who said it should continue to be implemented.

“When independents break against something by a 14-point margin, politicians generally look awkwardly for the escape hatches,” Weigel wrote.

Ironically, however, incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-WFP), who supports the Common Core standards, would receive the vote of 60 percent of those surveyed in the poll, while only 23 percent would vote for Rob Astorino (R-Conservative) who is staunchly opposed to the controversial standards.