WASHINGTON — A majority of registered voters back closing the Department of Education when they learn key details of how it would work, a shock poll found.
When asked about shuttering the Department of Education and given no other details, 51% oppose that, compared to 38% who support it, according to a survey commissioned by the Yes Every Kid Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes school choice and is supported by the Koch network.
But when presented with key details of ending the department, such as preserving K-12 funding and merging important elements of the department with other agencies, the opposition inverts, with 56% in support and 30% opposed, per the poll.
“President Trump and Secretary McMahon are dedicated to improving education for our nation’s students — and that begins with empowering those who are closest to the child,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Department of Education, told The Post.
“Returning education to the states means rightsizing the federal role in education by removing unnecessary red tape and micromanagement by D.C. while maintaining critical funding for students with disabilities and low-income schools and continuing to protect students’ civil rights.”
After being presented with even more details about how eliminating the department would unfold, including a gradual phase-out and protections for students with disabilities, support jumped higher to 59%, with 30% opposed.
The additional information included stats about how student reading and math scores have declined over recent decades under the Department of Education’s watch.
Abolishing the Department of Education, which was first established in 1979, has been a top priority for President Trump during his second term.
However, it would take an act of Congress to fully dissolve the department. Republicans lack the votes in the Senate, where it would need to clear the 60-vote filibuster — something that would require Democratic support.
As a result, Trump, 79, has taken executive action directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to wind down the department to the “maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
Since the start of the second Trump administration, McMahon, 77, has slashed the Department of Education by nearly half and taken steps to consolidate key programs within the department to prepare for its closure.
After getting fed the additional information about closing the Department of Education, 56% of respondents said they would be disappointed if lawmakers in Congress blocked it, compared to 30% who said they wouldn’t.
The survey’s findings contrast with a melange of polling that pegged closing the Department of Education as unpopular, and indicate that the public could be more receptive to the idea if supporters had better messaging.
For example, a whopping two-thirds of respondents were opposed to eliminating the Department of Education in a poll commissioned over the summer by PDK International, an organization for educators.
Last year, the Department of Education touted a $268 billion budget.
Some 44% of respondents surveyed in the Yes Every Kid Foundation poll had backed President Trump in the 2024 election, compared to 42% who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The survey sampled 1,500 registered voters from Oct. 22–23 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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