A 70 percent majority of Virginia Democrats want parents to have less say in their children's education, according to a new poll.
Meanwhile, 79 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents want more parental influence over school curriculums.
A recent poll conducted by Suffolk University/USA Today asked Virginia voters if they think parents or school boards should have more of an influence on a school’s curriculum.
In total, 50 percent of voters want parents to have more influence, while 39 percent favor the influence of school boards. "Should parents or school boards have more of an influence on a school's curriculum?"
Parents 50%
School boards 39%
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Democrats:
Parents 16%
School boards 70%
Republicans:
Parents 79%
School boards 12%
Independents:
Parents 57%
School boards 32%
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) October 26, 2021
Just 16 percent of Democrats think parents should have influence on a school’s curriculum. Only 12 percent of Republicans believe school boards should have the most control over the teachings.
Virginia has been one of the hot points for the debate about the use of controversial Critical Race Theory in schools. School board meetings have been met with protests and rallies.
While multiple states including Idaho, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma have banned CRT from public education, Loudoun County in Virginia has repeatedly publicly defended their use of it — making it ground zero for this portion of the culture war.
A Monmouth University poll released last week found that education and schools ranked as the second most important issue in the upcoming gubernatorial race in the state.
Suffolk University polled 500 likely Virginia voters between October 21 and October 24, with a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points.
