(iPoster) American Public Opinion on Education: Is It All about Partisanship?

• In Event: Poster Session: Public Opinion in the United States

Abstract

In education, there have been bills that received overwhelming bipartisan support, such as
The No Child Left Behind Act and the Every Student Succeeds Act. Yet, in recent years, various
debates on education have been covered by the media where there seems to be disagreement
between partisans. These debates on education include forgiving college student loan debt,
banning certain textbooks, curriculum contents for K-12 public schools, free speech on
university campuses, and more.
Studies looking at American public opinion in education have largely focused on K-12
education and issues such as school choice, teacher salary, and K-12 curriculum. The partisan
gap in public opinion on K -12 education is not as big as the gaps we see on topics such as
abortion rights and gun control, especially when we look at the general support for macro-level
spending in the education system. On the other hand, we are more likely to see a partisan gap
when the issues in K-12 education are about people’s local school districts or about cultural and
religious issues. What about people’s opinions on higher education? Where do Americans agree
and disagree about higher education, and what does it tell us about what influences public
opinion and attitudes toward higher education?
Through this paper, I aim to provide a descriptive account of public opinion on higher
education and compare it to what we know about public opinion on K-12 public schools.
Furthermore, I look at how public opinion on higher education fits into the existing literature on
public opinion and partisanship. I investigate when partisanship matters and does not matter in
people’s public opinion on higher education by considering the role of media coverage on
educational issues and personal experience in education.

Author

• Eun Ji Sally Son, Columbia University