This morning Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke to the NAACP — not a group traditionally friendly to GOP pols — and made school choice a focus of his address. It was a politically smart message to deliver (though, importantly, federal vouchers outside of DC would be unconstitutional). School choice is very popular with African-Americans, who are often saddled with the worst public schools. Indeed, according to a 2011 Education Next poll, 50 percent or more of African-Americans either “completely” or “somewhat” favor vouchers for students to attend private schools, versus just 23 percent or fewer who oppose the idea. (The results depend a bit on question wording). When presented with tax credits for individual and corporate donations for private school scholarships, “somewhat” or “complete” support hits 57 percent.

It’s a not-so-well-kept secret that the strongest opposition to school choice comes not from the people it would most directly benefit, but the wealthier “soccer mom” demographic that doesn’t seem to realize that though they may like their public schools, not everyone can afford to choose a school by buying a house. Of course that’s an incredibly inefficient way for anyone to choose a school, but it goes from an efficiency afterthought to a life-altering problem when you can’t get your child into a place that is safe and able to maximize his or her potential.

Many Americans don’t grasp that. Most African-Americans do.