Daniel Buck and Will Flanders write for National Review Online about a political opportunity involving America’s teachers.
During the 2024 election cycle, an internal survey of the Teamsters showed that members preferred Donald Trump two to one over Kamala Harris, suggesting that the long-term cozy relationship between unions and the Democratic Party was cooling. Something similar may be going on with teachers and their unions, presenting an opportunity for Republicans to exploit existing tensions between activist union leadership and their moderate members. If policymakers were to publicly support teachers while advancing policies that strengthen the profession, Republicans would not only attract more voters, they’d be doing a favor for teachers and students alike.
Surprisingly few surveys exist on the political views of teachers. An Education Week survey found that 43 percent of those in education identify as moderate, with a near-equal split between those identifying as liberal or conservative. In the realm of education — where transgender ideology, to take just one progressive notion, shows up in state-mandated curricula and allows boys to compete in girls’ sports — that finding signals little. A moderate compared with Trotsky does not a moderate make. After all, an analysis from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty found that upward of 94 percent of political donations from teachers still went to the Democratic Party.
To get clearer answers, Heritage ran a survey of the general population and oversampled teachers to determine how their views on various topics compare. When asked about specific issues — such as the inclusion of the 1619 Project in schools, whether America is the best country in the world for minorities, or whether the tenets of critical race theory should guide the training of educators — teachers leaned left of the general population but were by no means ideologues.
In fact, in another Education Week survey before the latest presidential election, 39 percent of teachers expressed their intent to vote for Donald Trump, and a full 49 percent of Gen Z and Millennial teachers (ages 22–44) expressed support for the Republican candidate.
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Author: Mitch Kokai
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