Satisfaction With U.S. Public Education Reaches Record Low in New Gallup Survey
The 74 Million | By Lauren Wagner | February 20, 2025
The poll, which has been published since 2001, found that 73% of 1,005 respondents were dissatisfied with the public schools. In 2001, it was 57%
Satisfaction with America’s public education system reached a record low in the latest iteration of a Gallup poll that’s been measuring opinions on U.S. society and policy since 2001.
The Mood of the Nation survey published Feb. 5 found that 73% of 1,005 adult respondents were dissatisfied with the quality of public education in the U.S. It’s the highest dissatisfaction rate since the survey began, and a 5-point increase from last year’s rate of 68%. In 2001, dissatisfaction was at 57%.
The survey’s respondents, who were polled from Jan. 2 to 15, weighed in on 31 topics including the nation’s security, race relations, gun policies and health care affordability.
People were most content with America’s military strength and preparedness, with a 63% satisfaction rate. Overall quality of life, the position of women in the nation and the opportunity for people to get ahead by working hard followed.
The quality of public education fell near the bottom of the satisfaction list. Only the nation’s moral and ethical climate and its efforts to deal with poverty and homelessness ranked lower.
Though the new poll didn’t delve into specifics, a 2022 Gallup survey asked why respondents were dissatisfied with K-12 education. The top five answers were poor or outdated curriculum, poor quality education, lack of teaching basic subjects, political agendas being taught and students not learning life skills.
Previous Gallup surveys over the past two decades have found that parents of school-aged children are much more likely to be satisfied with the quality of their own child’s education than with the nation’s education system overall. Last year, a poll found that 70% of parents of K-12 students said they were either completely or somewhat satisfied with the education their oldest child received.
In the new poll, Americans’ average satisfaction among all the topic areas was at 38%, down from 41% in January 2021 and 48% in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey found that members of both political parties were also dissatisfied with the quality of public education in the U.S. Only 16% of Republican respondents and 30% of Democrats said they were satisfied.
“Americans’ persistent low satisfaction with national conditions may be hard for the nation’s leaders to address,” Gallup’s survey report says. “However, the rank order of concerns resulting from this poll offers [President Donald] Trump and officials at all levels of government guidance on where the public might appreciate them focusing their efforts.”
