One of the persistent themes to emerge from the ongoing nationwide surge in book banning is that the bans are being pursued by a vocal, politically motivated minority. This week, a new survey report from the Knight Foundation is offering more support for that conclusion, finding that public engagement with efforts to ban books in public school libraries and classrooms is limited, despite a dramatic surge in book challenges since 2021.
The survey, based on a sizable national sample of more than 4,500 adults, found that most Americans feel informed about efforts to ban books in schools. But just 3% of respondents said that they have personally engaged on the issue—with 2% getting involved on the side of maintaining access to books, and 1% seeking to restrict access. Overall, a solid majority of respondents expressed support for the freedom to read, and expressed high levels of trust in their local teachers and school librarians.
“Strong sentiment is lopsided, with strong opponents of book restrictions outnumbering strong supporters by nearly 3-1,” the survey report states. “In general terms, 78% of adults are confident that their community’s public schools select appropriate books for students to read. Additionally, more people say it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is to provide them with access to books that have inappropriate content.”
And while most Americans see “age appropriateness” as a legitimate issue, “concern about exposure to inappropriate books is limited,” the survey found. Just 7% of parents with reading-age children reported that their child has accessed what they consider to be an age-inappropriate book at school.
Not surprisingly, the survey found that ideology is a major factor in attitudes on the issue. “Opposition to book restrictions peaks among liberals, Democrats, and LGBTQ adults,” the report states, while “support for restricting students’ access to books is highest among people who identify themselves as conservatives.” Conservatives are also “less confident in schools’ handling of topics including moral values, gender and sexuality, religious beliefs, and political views,” and are “particularly opposed” to “books that discuss topics such as non-traditional gender identities and sexual orientation.”
Nearly all adults think public school parents should be able to challenge books, but a majority also expressed concern about the “potential chilling effects” from book challenges. “About six in 10 are concerned that fear of complaints might deter public school districts from purchasing books with educational value,” the report states, and “two thirds think public school teachers and librarians should have a substantial say in deciding what books are available,” compared to just two in 10 who say the same for “state government officials or community members who are not pre-K-12 parents.”
The survey results were drawn from a national survey of 4,567 adults (including 1,138 pre-K–12 parents), conducted Feb. 29–March 10 of this year, that was undertaken by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and managed by Langer Research Associates. The survey has a margin of error of plus/minus 1.6% for the full sample. (As with all such surveys, the margin of error rises for subsets of the data.)
The report is presented in four parts, with part one focusing on attitudes and engagement on book restrictions; part two exploring age appropriateness; part three looking at views on the book banning process and issues of intellectual freedom, and part four presenting a fascinating array of comments from respondents “in their own words.” More than 3,000 respondents offered “substantive comments,” the reports states, presenting a selection that reveals “deep emotion” around the issue, which range from “concerns about fundamental rights to expressions of outright intolerance.”
“The biggest thing that comes to mind is erasure. Whether it be of the United States’ past, LGBTQ+ topics, or something that people find as equally controversial, it’s all about erasure when it comes to book banning and restriction,” one commenter notes. “I immediately think of historical book bans and all the discrimination and atrocities that followed. These tactics will no doubt lead down the same path,” notes another.
“Restrict the woke books that try to normalize things that are not as God intended,” reads a comment supporting efforts to restrict access to books. “If restricting for ‘offensive’ content, I think it’s silly. If you mean restricting as in restricting elementary children from reading ‘woke’ content, then I’m all for it,” reads another.
In a concluding section, researchers say that the public opinion survey is the most in-depth yet on efforts to ban books in schools. “This independent, nonpartisan research fills a critical gap in our understanding of how the American public views the book restriction movement,” the report states, calling the responses “at once lopsided, yet nuanced” in how they expose “deep divisions” across ideological lines.
“At their base, results show that the public broadly opposes book restrictions in schools, expresses confidence in the schools to select appropriate books, and sees a bigger risk in depriving students of access to books with educational value than in giving them access to books that are inappropriate,” the conclusion states. “Yet there are complexities in these views. Age appropriateness is a real concern, and objections to some content rise for lower grade levels.”