6 in 10 oppose fully reopening schools: poll

Approximately 6 in 10 voters oppose fully reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll released Wednesday. 

A total of 59 percent of voters in a Politico/Morning Consult poll said they are against fully reopening K-12 schools for the beginning of the school year. The percentage is a slight increase from last month, when 53 percent of voters were against a full reopening.

Poll respondents were slightly more open to in-person learning in colleges and universities and day cares, with  57 percent and 56 percent, respectively, saying they were against reopening. Last month, 50 percent and 53 percent were opposed to reopening universities and day cares.

Suburban voters, a key demographic that President Trump hopes to attract in his reelection bid, aligned with the overall results, with 60 percent reporting being against in-person instruction in the fall in K-12 schools, with similar opposition to reopening day cares and colleges.  

As Congress has debated how school funding should be distributed to institutions staying completely virtual, 42 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans said federal funding should stay the same for these schools. But 23 percent of Republicans said they should receive a deduction in federal funding, aligning with Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s previous threats to withhold funding from these schools. 

The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,983 registered voters Aug. 9 and 10. It recorded a margin of error of 2 percentage points. 

Talks in Congress over the next round of coronavirus assistance have reached a stalemate over many issues, including schools. Republican lawmakers have said that schools that reopen in-person instruction will need more funding than those that conduct online learning. 

The president has maintained that children are not as negatively impacted by COVID-19 as other populations. But other health experts have said children can still catch the virus and pass it along to more vulnerable populations.