Partisan divide widens; Democrats’ satisfaction down 19 points since 2025
An August Gallup poll conducted with the Walton Family Foundation and shared exclusively with The Associated Press found that just 32% of American adults describe themselves as “completely” or “somewhat” satisfied with the U.S. K-12 school system. The figure represents an 11-point drop over the past two years and is the lowest reading Gallup has recorded in 27 years of polling on the subject. Dissatisfaction climbed to 67%, a high in the survey’s history.
The poll found the decline driven by a growing political divide and by concerns that schools are not preparing children for college and future jobs. Democrats are driving the recent slide, with their satisfaction dropping about 19 points since President Donald Trump’s second term began in 2025. Independents fell about 10 points from 2024, and Republicans about 6 points.
Jack Schneider, director of the Center for Education Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told the AP that the Trump administration had “played a role” in eroding public confidence in the schools. He cited the administration’s depiction of schools as political battlegrounds, its raising of concerns about what teachers should be allowed to say in classrooms, and its moves to abolish diversity programs and to dismantle the Education Department.
“It’s terrifying,” Schneider said. “We’re on the precipice of the dissolution of the public education system as we have known it.”
Schneider added that Democrats are particularly concerned about the Trump administration’s signature school choice program, which he said would use taxpayer-supported scholarships to pay for children’s private school tuition.
Experts on education and school policy contacted by the AP described the findings as deeply concerning but not surprising. The poll was conducted in August and published Tuesday.