Most Americans Cautious of Book Bans But Open to Some Restrictions, Survey Says

A majority of Americans are more concerned about children losing access to educational books than they are about children encountering potentially inappropriate material.

Most people trust teachers and school librarians to make good choices regarding book selections in schools. However, many agree that age appropriateness is a valid reason to restrict book access, particularly for younger students. Opinions on this issue vary significantly between liberals and conservatives, LGBTQ adults and others, and between parents and non-parents.

These findings come from new polling by the Knight Foundation, which surveyed over 4,500 adults, including 1,413 parents of children aged 18 or younger, with an oversampling of parents of color to capture their perspectives better.

The survey reveals a nuanced picture. For example, 88% of parents of public school children are confident that their local schools choose appropriate books, compared to 76% of non-parents. Yet, 40% of public school parents support some efforts to restrict book access, compared to 32% of non-parents. Additionally, more than half of the parents whose children do not attend public school support book access restrictions, reflecting the greater representation of religious conservatives among private school and homeschooling families.

“This is much more complex than ‘a majority of adults oppose book restrictions,'” said Kyla Gabriel, director of learning and impact for the Knight Foundation. “When they have a child in the public school system, they are not necessarily supportive of book restrictions but might see some reasons to restrict books.”

A survey last year by the Every Library Institute found that many parents trust librarians and feel their children are safe in school libraries. However, smaller majorities supported restricting book access in some cases, requiring parental permission slips for library use, and allowing parents to opt their children out of using the school library. Similarly, an Ipsos poll found that Democrats had more concerns about book bans, but voters from both parties would be less likely to support candidates who favor restricting book access. The issue remains politically charged, as evidenced by Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks contrasting her party’s stance with that of Republicans: “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”

In the Knight survey results released Wednesday, majorities of conservatives, Republicans, and white evangelical Protestants support restricting books in public schools. Some conservative respondents worried that classic works could be banned in liberal communities because they touch on ideas or use language now considered outdated or offensive. “Books like ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ‘Catcher in the Rye’ all need to be made available to students,” one respondent noted. “Just because the far-left liberals think all things not woke need to be banned, the students will miss out on learning about the culture and history of this country.” “They just better not restrict access to the Bible,” added another.

Most Hispanic respondents did not support restricting books but were more amenable to some restrictions than other ethnic or racial groups, while Black respondents were the least likely to support restrictions. Only 12% of LGBTQ adults support book restrictions in schools. Many LGBTQ youth report feeling unsafe at school, even as numerous states have adopted restrictions on discussing gender and sexuality and some schools have removed books mentioning LGBTQ topics.

Most respondents believe students should have access to books that might contradict their parents’ political, religious, or moral beliefs. Efforts to restrict book access are often described as “censorship” by some respondents. “These efforts sound like the actions of right-wing extremists who want to restrict education and access to information to inhibit students’ critical thinking so they will more easily conform to the extremist ideology,” one respondent stated. However, 61% said age appropriateness is a legitimate reason to restrict access to certain books, drawing comparisons to TV and movie rating systems.

There was less consensus on who should decide which books are appropriate. About half of respondents trusted librarians and teachers to make these decisions, with fewer endorsing school boards, state governments, or non-parents in the community as suitable decision-makers.

While most respondents supported making books on racism available to all students, fewer than half thought elementary school students should have access to books discussing sexual orientation or non-traditional gender identities. This is consistent with other surveys on comfort levels regarding discussions of race and American history versus sexuality or gender in classrooms.

Conversely, 70% of LGBTQ respondents—many of whom were once LGBTQ students themselves—argue that books on sexuality and gender identity should be available even to elementary students. Advocates say representation in books and media is invaluable for LGBTQ children who may feel isolated or unsafe in their schools.

Nearly a quarter of respondents were aware of efforts to restrict books in their communities, and of those, more than half said these efforts had been successful. Awareness of successful book restriction efforts was higher in the South, at 20%, compared to 6% in the Northeast.

Although six in 10 respondents found book access to be an important issue, only 3% had been personally involved in efforts to address it—2% to prevent a book from being restricted and 1% to restrict a book. A large majority felt parents should be able to raise concerns about particular books, but fewer believed non-parents should have the same ability. Furthermore, respondents thought books should not be removed or restricted based on a single complaint.

Studies by PEN America indicate that most book bans are initiated by a small number of individuals. Florida, a state with a significant number of book challenges, recently enacted a law limiting individuals without children in the school system to one challenge per month.

Source: Chalkbeat, Knight Foundation