We’re proud to have partnered with the Knight Foundation to produce an in-depth study of Americans’ views of book restrictions in U.S. public schools. The study fills a critical information gap in the national conversation about book restrictions by providing rigorous, non-partisan analysis of a nationally representative, probability sample survey of more than 4,500 U.S. adults, including 1,138 parents of children in grades pre-K to 12.

The poll finds that two-thirds of Americans broadly oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools and 78 percent have confidence in their community’s public schools to select appropriate books for students. Despite general opposition to book restrictions, six in 10 see age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to limit access to certain materials. Ideology is a key variable in attitudes toward restrictions, with support highest among conservatives.

Twenty-three percent of Americans are aware of efforts to restrict books in their own community’s public schools. Just 3 percent personally have engaged on the issue in their communities – 2 percent to maintain book access, 1 percent to restrict it.

The full report, supplemental materials and dataset are available on the Knight Foundation’s website. Findings have been covered by Chalkbeat, Education Week, The Cato Institute, ABC News, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, NJ Spotlight News and Colorado Public Radio, among others.

In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris led Donald Trump by 50-45 percent among all adults in a head-to-head matchup. The latest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, which we produce for ABC News, found Harris buoyed by enthusiasm among Democrats: Sixty percent of Harris’ backers supported her strongly, vs. 34 percent strong support for Joe Biden last month. Trump, for his part, maintained his lead on trust to handle the ever-important issues of the economy and inflation, keeping the race contested. Beyond ABC and the Post, results have been picked up by outlets including The New York Times, NBC News, USA Today, The Hill, Politico and Bloomberg.

On VP selections, more saw Tim Walz favorably (39 percent) than said so for JD Vance (30 percent) – although sizable shares had no opinion of either candidate. Similarly, more approved of the Walz pick than the Vance pick. See coverage at Fox News, The Hill and Newsweek.

Yulia Baskakova and Gary Langer attended the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research in Seoul, South Korea, Baskakova in her role as WAPOR’s secretary/treasurer and executive council member, Langer in his as WAPOR’s U.S. national representative. Both co-authored a paper, led by Sofi Sinozich of the Pew Research Center, comparing simultaneous face-to-face and telephone surveys in Hungary and Poland. Langer led a pre-conference workshop on communicating with journalists about surveys and contributed commentary on the theme of the conference, the relationship between public opinion research and the interests of humanity, included in this video presentation. Conference papers, as well as a wide range of other WAPOR materials, are available via WAPOR’s customized version of our PARC knowledge management system.

Eighty-five percent of Americans say Joe Biden is too old for another term and 67 percent (including a majority of Democrats) say he should step aside in the aftermath of the June 27 debate, the latest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll finds. Despite Biden’s struggles, Donald Trump has failed to gain an advantage – the two remain locked in a tie. Trump, for his part, shows a mix of strengths and weakness; among the latter, 59 percent say he was rightfully convicted of 34 felonies. If Biden were to be replaced, Vice President Kamala Harris is the preferred option, and Harris, like Biden, runs evenly with Trump in a head-to-head matchup. Coverage beyond ABC and the Post includes CNN, Fox News, Axios, Forbes, The Hill, Politico and Newsweek, among others.

Six months out from the 2024 election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are locked in a dead heat in the race for the presidency, the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll finds. Trump leads in trust to handle six of 10 issues motivating voters in the upcoming contest, including the economy, inflation and crime and safety. But Biden’s staying competitive by earning higher marks than Trump on measures of character, and in a sign of the cost of Trump’s continued legal woes, 20 percent of his supporters say they’d reconsider or no longer support the former president if convicted of a felony in his ongoing hush-money trial. Beyond ABC, coverage includes Fox News, MSNBC here and here, USA Today, Politico, Newsweek and National Review.

In a separate finding, nearly four in 10 say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas, up from about three in 10 in January, yet few rate the issue as critical to their choice of a candidate in November. And on another front, a slim majority expresses support for government action to force TikTok to divest from its Chinese owners. See further coverage at MSN and Tech Times.

President Joe Biden’s approval rating hits a career low in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll; that’s the lowest for any president in the past 15 years. However, Donald Trump fares well; most, 72 percent, Republican-aligned adults say they’d be satisfied if Trump was the nominee. See additional coverage by Fox News, the Global Times, Bloomberg, and Daily Mail, among others.

The poll also found that 56 percent of Americans think the U.S. Supreme Court should either order Trump off the ballot in all states or let each state decide on their own, for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. In a separate finding, just 27 percent of Americans believe the American dream still holds true. Coverage (beyond ABC and Ipsos) includes MSN, The Hill, Fox News, and the Latin Times, among others.

We’re proud to have produced a recent national survey for The Chronicle of Higher Education on Americans’ perceptions of colleges and the value of a college education. The Chronicle has covered the results in a series of articles this fall, including this introductory piece, a story on who should shape what colleges teach, another on the value of good teaching and a fourth on college loans. Results have been mentioned in other Chronicle reports and in its daily or weekly briefings. (Note, links are paywalled)

President Joe Biden’s job approval rating is 19 points underwater in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll; his ratings for handling the economy and immigration are at career lows. A record number of Americans say they’ve become worse off under his presidency, three-quarters say he’s too old for another term and Donald Trump is looking better in retrospect – all severe challenges for Biden in his reelection campaign ahead.

The poll also found that Americans are divided on the congressional impeachment inquiry into Biden and whether Trump should be eligible for a second term. In a separate finding, 41 percent now think the U.S. is doing too much to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Gary Langer, president of Langer Research Associates, and Yulia Baskakova, its international projects director, gave presentations at this week’s conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research in Salzburg, Austria. Baskakova, an expert in Russian public opinion, spoke on public attitudes in Russia toward the war in Ukraine; see her presentation here. Langer spoke on the topic of “Protecting the Integrity of Survey Research,” a paper published last spring in PNAS Nexus, the second journal of the National Academies of Sciences. See the text of his talk here.

The New York Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research honored Gary Langer with its Harry W. O’Neill Outstanding Achievement Award at a dinner event in New York this evening. Prof. Jon Krosnick of Stanford University introduced Langer, whose acceptance remarks focused on three foundations of success in the field of survey research: Developing strong reportorial skills, building the knowledge base that leads to informed judgment and exercising that judgment with integrity. See his comments here.