@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1431,
title = "Americans’ Attitudes about Political Neutrality in Public Schools",
author = "Eric Torres",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1431",
year = "2026",
month = "March",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1431",
abstract = {This paper presents the results of a study of Americans’ attitudes about political neutrality in public schools. Using data from a nationally representative survey conducted in March of 2025, I find that Americans across the political spectrum largely oppose schools attempting to promote either liberal or conservative viewpoints. However, a survey experiment reveals that partisans are significantly more likely to approve of teachers’ political disclosures to students when those disclosures align with their own political preferences, suggesting that Americans may inconsistently apply standards for educational neutrality in forming judgements about individual cases in the classroom. These findings offer insight into how partisanship can affect public oversight of American schooling and suggest a mechanism by which the political education of students in liberal and conservative contexts might systematically drift apart even in the face of ostensibly shared commitments to political impartiality in teaching.},
}