4 takeaways about Americans’ COVID views at summer’s end

It feels like we’ve been here before. New COVID-19 infections have hit another peak, health care systems are overwhelmed by severe cases, one more school year is starting without having the pandemic under control. But unlike previous surges, the nation has access to three effective vaccines and hundreds of millions […] Read more »

UT/Texas Politics Project poll finds Texans dour and deeply divided

The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll finds Texans in a dour mood colored by a resurgent COVID-19 virus, an economy recovering yet roiled by its impact, and state politics driven by increasingly entrenched and in many instances extreme partisanship, which is being accentuated by the Republican monopoly on […] Read more »

How Strong Is America’s Multiracial Democracy?

The issue cutting across every aspect of American politics today is whether — and how — the nation can survive as a multiracial democracy. One key question is what the political impact has been of the decades-long quest to integrate America’s schools. A study published last year, “The Long-Run Effects […] Read more »

K-12 Parents Divided Over Mask Mandates in School

As another school year begins in the age of COVID-19, mask mandates have become a flashpoint across the U.S., with parents on both sides of the issue clashing with each other, school administrators and political leaders. Gallup’s latest polling finds that parents of K-12 students tilt more toward requiring masks […] Read more »

Parent Poll Reveals Support for School Covid-Safety Measures Despite Vaccine Hesitancy, Partisan Polarization

The 15th annual Education Next survey, conducted in June 2021, yields a host of specific results that reveal one large fact about the current state of public opinion on American education: The public is cautious—extremely cautious. In the presence of a still-circulating Covid-19 virus, a large percentage of parents and […] Read more »