According to our 2017 EdNext Poll, opposition to the Common Core partly reflects a tainted brand name, rather than antagonism to the concept of shared state standards. Support for using “standards for reading and math that are the same across states” is much higher when no mention is made of Common Core. We identify this effect by randomly assigning respondents either to a version of the question that explicitly refers to “Common Core” or to a version that leaves the name out. A substantial majority of the public (61%) support the general concept of standards that are the same across the states—20 percentage points higher than the share that supports “Common Core.” The effect is even larger among Republicans, boosting support by 32 percentage points, to 64%. Among Democrats, support increases by 12 percentage points, to 61%, when the phrase “Common Core” is dropped. Learn more about the general public’s view on education issues by reading our full article on the 2017 EdNext Poll, or check out our interactive tool to compare responses by population subgroup.
—Education Next
