Most Agree With Trump On Need for ‘Patriotic Education’

Voters feel better about America’s public schools these days, but most agree with President Trump that we need to restore patriotic education to the curriculum.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters agree with this statement by the president earlier this week: “The only path to unity is to rebuild shared national identity focused on common American values and virtues of which we have plenty. This includes restoring patriotic education in our nation’s schools, where they are trying to change everything that we have learned.” Thirty percent (30%) disagree, while 14% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans see a need to restore patriotic education, compared to just 43% of Democrats and 49% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Forty percent (40%) of all voters now rate the performance of America’s public schools as good or excellent, up from 29% in May of last year and the highest finding in several years of regular surveying.Twenty-two percent (22%) still say the public schools are doing a poor job.

Voters are also less skeptical of school textbooks. Forty-three percent (43%) still believe most textbooks are more concerned with presenting information in a politically correct manner than in providing accurate information, but that’s down from the 50s and 60s in past surveying. Nearly as many (41%) say most school textbooks put accurate information first. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted September 1-2, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Most Americans still see a place for the Pledge of Allegiance “under God” in the nation’s schools, but they’re not quite as passionate about it as they have been.

The majority of voters in most demographic categories agree that there is a need for restoring patriotic education in the schools.

Women and men are in general agreement about the quality of America’s public schools. Those under 40 are the most positive and the most negative about the schools today.

Whites (45%) are more likely to give the schools positive marks than blacks (36%) and other minority voters (27%).

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Republicans and a plurality (49%) of unaffiliated voters think most textbooks are more concerned with being politically correct. Most Democrats (51%) think most of these books put the emphasis on accurately providing information instead.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of all voters agreed with Trump’s statement in his July 4 speech last year that “together we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told – the story of America. It is the epic tale of a great nation whose people have risked everything for what they know is right.”

Most parents want their kids to go back to school in the fall, but teachers’ unions nationwide are fighting efforts to reopen. Americans, especially those with children, are now more critical of teachers' unions and suspect that they have too much influence over local school operations.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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