Satisfaction with K-12 education plummets -- mostly due to these groups, poll finds

Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald on Sep 17, 2025

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The report card is in — and the results are not good.

A new Gallup poll reveals the share of Americans who are satisfied with the country’s K-12 education system has tumbled to a record low, driven largely by declining support among Democrats.

At the same time, most Americans believe schools are heading in the wrong direction, while few say they are adequately preparing students for college and employment.

However, there was one bright spot. Parents of enrolled students expressed a high degree of satisfaction with their own children’s schooling.

The survey, conducted Aug. 1-20, sampled 1,094 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Some questions were also taken from an Aug. 1-15 poll, which sampled 2,132 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Record-low satisfaction

In the poll, 35% of respondents said they are somewhat or completely satisfied with “the quality of education students receive in kindergarten through grade 12 in the U.S. today.”

This is the lowest share on record since Gallup first asked about the nation’s education system in 1999. The previous all-time low of 36% was registered in 2000 and again in 2023.

By comparison, in 2024, 43% of poll respondents said they were pleased with the quality of the country’s education system.

The latest dip is largely due to souring attitudes among Democrats and, to a lesser degree, independents.

Forty-two percent of Democrats telegraphed satisfaction with the quality of K-12 education, marking a 12-point decrease from 2024. Meanwhile, 34% of independents said the same — an 8-point decline from last year.

In contrast, views among Republicans — who provided the lowest marks for the nation’s education system — have largely held steady, with the satisfaction rate dropping 2 points from 31% to 29%.

The significant drop in approval among Democrats coincided with President Donald Trump’s return to office, which is no coincidence, Gallup noted.

“Americans’ satisfaction with K-12 education has generally been influenced by their party identification, with higher levels of satisfaction seen among Republicans and Democrats when their party occupies the White House,” the polling organization said.

Over the past year, the Trump administration has made a number of policy changes directed toward education. It moved to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, froze billions of dollars in funding for K-12 programs, and took steps to prevent schools from indoctrinating students with what they term “radical, anti-American ideologies.”

The poll also comes shortly after the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released a report card on the nation’s schooling outcomes. The report found K-12 students’ math and reading scores have fallen precipitously since 2019.

Schools heading in ‘wrong direction’

Respondents also provided a bleak assessment of the trajectory of America’s schools.

A majority, 73%, said K-12 schools across the U.S. are heading in the wrong direction, while 26% said they are moving in the right direction.

On this question, there were no significant partisan differences, though there were some slight distinctions based on educational attainment and age.

Seventy-seven percent of college graduates said the country’s K-12 schools are moving in the wrong direction, while 70% of non-college graduates said the same. Seventy-seven percent of adults 65 and older and 67% of 18-29-year-olds concurred.

Additionally, respondents were asked how well schools are doing at preparing students for college and “the current world of work.” Here, again, the results left much to be desired.

Just 33% said schools were doing an excellent or good job at equipping pupils for college, while 21% said the same when it came to preparing them for employment.

Democrats gave the highest marks, with 36% saying schools adequately prepare students for college, and 26% expressing the same confidence about readiness for today’s workforce; by comparison, 29% and 18% of Republicans, respectively, agreed.

Parents give higher marks

At the same time, parents of current K-12 students expressed a more optimistic view about the education their children are receiving.

Nearly three-quarters of parents, 74%, said they are completely or somewhat satisfied with the teaching their oldest child is being given. This figure has largely held steady for the past two decades.

When probed as to the reasons for their satisfaction, parents cited curriculum and teachers most often.

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