Americans today are as divided on the value of public education as they are along party lines
Americans today are as divided on the value of public education as they are along party lines
While educating America's youth should not be a political issue, the statistics tell a different story.
The partisan divide over the value of public education has become increasingly potent. Approximately 3 in 4 Democratic-leaning Americans view K-12 public education positively, as opposed to just a third of Republicans. These stats are according to a Pew Research Center national survey conducted in January 2024, which Stacker used to analyze partisan divides on public education and other institutions.
With Linda McMahon sworn in as education secretary and the prospect of a shuttered (or at least, heavily revamped) Department of Education becoming more imminent, Pew found that 53% of adults polled in January 2024 perceived education—in grades K-12 and at colleges and universities—positively, compared to 45% who saw it negatively.
According to an earlier Pew survey on education from November 2023, half of Americans think public education is heading in the wrong direction, compared to just 16% who feel otherwise.
Diverging perspectives on education's direction
Among adults who view public education as going in the wrong direction, Republicans tend to focus on the lack of time spent on core subjects and worry teachers are bringing their political and social views into the classroom. Democrats, on the other hand, worry about insufficient funding and resources, as well as parents' excessive influence on what schools are teaching.
Division over the influence of America's public schools has taken on different forms throughout the decades, from preparing students for the fallout of nuclear war during the Cold War to accountability measures like the rise of standardized testing in the 1980s and the No Child Left Behind Act passing in 2002.
Today, parents are divided on many issues that have prompted them to seek alternative options like homeschooling and charter schools. Others, connected to a network of conservative groups, have taken a more active and vocal role in challenging everything from school curricula to censoring book choices in school libraries. About a dozen states have pushed for and expanded voucher programs in recent years, although "school choice" ballot measures failed in multiple states where President Donald Trump won this past election. According to a February 2024 survey led by the University of Southern California Center for Applied Research in Education, there is clear bipartisan support on the right to a free, public education.
However, Americans across party lines have different ideas about who should influence what is taught in the classrooms. According to a fall 2022 Pew survey, about half of Republicans or Republican-leaning parents thought the federal government had too much influence over what is taught in K-12 schools, as opposed to just 1 in 5 Democrat parents.
The role of federal and state governments
The survey also found close to half of Republican-leaning parents thought there was not enough influence from parents over what was taught in the classroom, compared to almost 1 in 4 Democrat-leaning parents. Democrats and Republicans, according to Pew's findings, are also divided on how certain topics—such as slavery, gender identity, sexual education, and the United States' political position in the world—should be covered in school.
Trump vowed to close the Department of Education leading up to the 2024 election, which would require an act of Congress. The department is responsible for collecting data and tracking public and private school achievement, disbursing Title I funds for students with disabilities or students experiencing poverty, and administrating higher-ed federal student loans and work-study programs, among other roles. However, this federal institution does not determine curricula; that is left up to each state's Board of Education.
Closing the department would not undo Title I, established to provide money to schools with many students from low-income households. If the Education Department were eliminated, funding would flow through another federal agency.
How Americans feel about large institutions
Apart from education, Pew's January 2024 national survey also measured how American adults viewed the impacts of a broad spectrum of institutions, including the military, small businesses, labor unions, technology companies, large corporations, banks and financial institutions, and churches and religious organizations.
The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans on both K-12 and higher education is most closely mirrored in their views on labor unions, followed closely (and inversely) by churches and religious organizations.
Labor unions have long been seen as supporters of the Democratic Party. According to a 2023 Pew survey, about 3 in 5 (59%) voters lean Democratic. Historically, union influence has advocated for social security, health insurance, and even the concept of weekends. In the 1950s, 1 in 3 private sector workers belonged to unions, according to political economist Margaret Levi. By 2021, that figure dropped to 1 in 16, partly aided by Republican-backed "right to work" laws that have effectively shrunk unions. Trump's reelection also bodes for more pro-business policies that would make it more difficult for workers to unionize.
However, according to the Center for American Progress, there is a resurgence of union interest, bolstered by Gen Zers. Strikes and strike threats in the last few years have secured workers gains in wages, especially in parcel delivery, health care, and education.
Conversely, about 3 in 4 (73%) Republican or Republican-leaning respondents viewed churches and religious organizations positively versus just 45% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning respondents. Many religious voters have mostly been drawn to the Republican party, Matthew Wilson, a political scientist and associate professor at Southern Methodist University, told Spectrum News. "So now, looking at someone's level of religious commitment tells you more about their likely partisan allegiance than just about anything else you could know." This applies most to white voters, he added.
Despite many areas where Americans differ across party lines, they do agree on the impact of some institutions. Both Republicans and Democrats were overwhelmingly supportive of small businesses, at 87% and 88%, respectively. While adults in both parties are more closely aligned on their feelings about institutions like the military, there is less overall support from both. Adults from both parties align with the view that banks and large corporations are negatively viewed.
Regardless of their political leanings, dismantling the DOE would have far-reaching consequences for many Americans. Federal programs like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment could be eliminated, along with vital funding and oversight for programs that support an estimated 75 million public school students with disabilities.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Sofía Jarrín. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.
