Educational Choice’s Blurred (Political) Lines Revisited

At EdChoice, we’ve been conducting nationally representative surveys of public opinion on educational choice for over a decade. Our 2025 Schooling in America (SIA) survey was released last week, marking the 13^th year of the survey series.

SIA, for those unfamiliar, focuses on Americans’ and school parents’ educational priorities, opinions towards school choice policies, satisfaction with their child’s schooling experiences, as well as many more topics. Included in the survey are several demographic questions as well. One of those demographic questions asks respondents whether they consider themselves a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent. With this information, we are able to learn how people of different political affiliations feel towards educational choice and other topics in K-12 education.

Like water on Arrakis, strong bipartisan support for anything in America today is quite rare and should be treasured. Support for educational choice policies, especially education savings accounts (ESAs), is one such source of common ground.[i]

A Changing Tide

Our survey launched for the first time in 2013, while President Obama was in office. The share of Republicans and Democrats that felt K-12 education was headed in the right direction was roughly the same, but optimism among Democrats increased and separated from that of Republicans in the subsequent years (2014-16). After 2016, however, optimism towards K-12 education among Republicans sharply increased, more than doubling from 2016 (14%) to 2017 (31%). During President Trump’s first term, Republicans were consistently more likely than Democrats to say that K-12 education was headed in the right direction. Our survey in 2020 revealed a substantial gap in optimism between Republicans (50%) and Democrats (31%).

One year later, in 2021, President Biden took office. As expected, the mood changed drastically for both Republicans and Democrats. Republican optimism plummeted from 50% in 2020 to 28% in 2021. The inverse is true for Democrat optimism, jumping massively from 31% to 58% in the same time frame. The gap in optimism remained quite large between 2021 and 2024, though both parties experienced decreases in optimism over that time.

Examining the new 2025 data shows, once again, that a change in the White House brings upon a serious reversal in sentiment. Republican optimism jumped from 18% in 2024 to 39% in 2025, while Democrat optimism fell from 41% to 29% in those years. Republicans are, once again, more likely than Democrats and Independents to say they feel K-12 education is headed in the right direction.

The same theme exists when we look at the data from school parents broken out by political affiliation. It is worth noting that school parents are typically more likely to say that K-12 education is headed in the right direction, and that is the case here as well.

Common Ground?

While it appears true that Republicans and Democrats tend to disagree on the direction of K-12 education, their opinions towards educational choice policies are quite similar. While the visualizations above showcase wide gaps between Republicans and Democrats, our trend chart showing each groups’ support for ESAs is a stark contrast. Since our first SIA survey in 2013, both Republicans and Democrats support ESAs at similar levels. In fact, with the exception of 2021, the gap between support levels of both parties has stayed within 5 points. Furthermore, the support for ESAs is quite strong, as it has not dipped below 70% since 2017.

Notably, Democrats have been more likely to support ESAs than Republicans on a handful of occasions, including as recent as our 2024 SIA survey. At one point, in 2021, a whopping 83% of Democrats supported ESAs, while Republican support lagged behind at 70%.

Can the same be said for universal ESAs? Included each year in SIA is a split sample question examining support for universal ESAs compared to needs-based ESAs. In a split sample question, we randomize whether participants see a statement suggesting ESAs should “only be available to families based on financial need” (needs-based ESAs) or a statement suggesting ESAs “should be available to all families, regardless of income or special needs” (universal ESAs). The difference in opinion is minimal, as both Republicans (74%) and Democrats (75%) are very supportive of universal ESAs.

We find that Democrats are typically more likely than Republicans to support universal ESAs. This has been the case for the fifth year in a row.

As for the other three educational choice policies (school vouchers, charter schools, and tax-credit scholarships), Republicans are consistently more likely than Democrats to signal support. Republicans’ increased support is especially pronounced when thinking about school vouchers. Not once throughout the history of SIA have Democrats shown a higher level of support for school vouchers than Republicans. The gap in support has gotten much larger recently as well. This year, 77% of Republicans support school vouchers while 57% of Democrats say the same.

When looking at support for charter schools and tax-credit scholarships, Republican support typically hovers around 70%. Democrat support for these policies, while lower than that of Republicans, isn’t too far behind at around 60% historically.

Conclusion

Getting a first look at the SIA data for a given year always produces some excitement. This year had a little more than usual, as it was the first survey in the wake of the 2024 election. Regarding partisan attitudes on the direction of K-12 education, what we observed in 2017 and 2021 held true in 2025. As for bipartisan support for ESAs, we now have 13 years of signal — the majority of both Republicans and Democrats support ESAs. In a time when political division and worry feel inescapable, finding something to coalesce around can be a beacon of hope.

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[i] My colleague John Kristof had a brilliant idea to write about this idea back in 2022. This piece will merely be an extension of his work which you can read here. I’d also like to give kudos to my colleague Drew Catt for taking the time to dive into this year’s SIA to update these trends.

This was originally published to our Substack.