Majority Disapprove of Proposed DOE Changes
[Student Borrower Protection Center]
Eliminating the Department of Education (DOE) is deeply unpopular. Polling backs up what we all know from our interactions with bureaucracy: People want to interact with knowledgeable humans, not AI chatbots.
A new poll published by New America in partnership with Voss Research and Strategy [1] conducted between Feb. 21 and 25, shows:
Only 1 in 4 Americans (26 percent) favor eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Further, only 10 percent of Black respondents and 18 percent of Latino respondents favor its elimination.
Fewer than 1 in 5 Americans (17 percent) favor moving the responsibility of distributing and overseeing student financial aid to another agency.
Only 1 in 4 (20 percent) favor ending research into identifying the most effective ways students learn. The Trump administration has cut most contracts from the Institute of Education Sciences, including evaluations of and technical assistance to grantees of the Postsecondary Student Success Grant program.
Only 15 percent favor replacing call centers, like student loan call centers, with AI chatbots.
A poll conducted earlier in February by Data for Progress, in partnership with the Student Borrower Protection Center and Groundwork Collaborative, had similar results (view above).
The majority of Republicans also show strong support for higher education programs managed by the Department of Education. Polling by Third Way of 500 Republican voters shows 81 percent support for Pell grants, 79 percent support for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, 79 percent support for income-driven repayment and 63 percent support for graduate student lending[2]. This underscores that Trump has no mandate for this extreme agenda.
[1] Sophie Nguyen, Rachel Fishman, and Olivia Sawyer, “Trump’s Proposal to Dismantle the Education Department Unpopular Among Americans,” New America, March 3, 2025, https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/trumps-proposal-to-dismantle-ed-unpopular-among-americans/
[2] Ben Cecil “What do Republican Voters Want on Higher Education?” Third Way. March 6, 2025. https://www.thirdway.org/memo/what-do-republican-voters-want-on-higher-education
