Fifty-one percent of people who said they earn less than $25,000 a year supported the bill, while 41 percent of the next income bracket supported it. Of those earning $35,000 to $44,999, 61 percent back the bill. Support from high incomes is about 40 percent.

The survey of 406 Utah adults was conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 and has a 5 percent error margin.

Poll results come as Parents for Choice in Education begins a radio ad campaign supporting the tax credits.

"The more people know about school choice, the more they support it, and these poll results verify exactly that point," Parents for Choice executive director Elisa Clements Peterson said. "Our expectation is that after this program passes, after it is implemented and people see it in action, support is going to grow even more because they'll see the benefit."

But Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk believes the opposite.

"Our hope is . . . people will come to realize it doesn't matter how they fix it up and make it look better, the basic premise to give a subsidy to private business to basically compete with a public school doesn't make much sense to the taxpayers."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com