Survey finds strong opposition to school library restrictions despite Florida book bans

A new national survey shows that two-thirds of American adults oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools.

The data sheds more light on one of today's most pressing education issues, revealing a significant divide between public opinion and what's actually happening in school libraries, where book restrictions have skyrocketed across Florida and beyond.

Of those who support book restrictions, the majority are conservative, according to the survey , which was released Wednesday by the Knight Foundation and produced by Langer Research Associates .

More specifically, 66% of surveyed conservatives said they supported them, compared to 27% of moderates and 11% of liberals.

That comes as no shock in Florida .

A slew of school districts have been flooded with book objections from conservative activists, many working with the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty , which has led the charge opposing books deemed inappropriate by its members.

But less than half of surveyed conservatives — 44% — believed books that talk about sexual orientation should be available even to high schoolers. And only 35% said that books discussing non-traditional gender identities should be available, compared with 91% of liberals and 69% of moderates.

Meanwhile, 59% of conservatives thought books that include portrayals of racism should be available in middle schools, while 91% of liberals said the same.

"Conservatives are less likely than other people to think that books in public schools adequately represent conservative political views," reads the report.

Six of 10 respondents viewed a lack of age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to restrict books, but 78% expressed confidence that schools are selecting age appropriate books.

"Additionally, more people say it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is to provide them with access to books that have inappropriate content," the report says.

Yet, book access advocacy groups have ranked Florida as the top state in book banning and book challenging . Recent laws passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislative GOP supermajority have significantly driven the surge of school library book restrictions and removals.

Yet, the majority of survey respondents expressed aversion to state governments getting involved in public school content decisions.

It's ultimately up to local school officials to decide how to implement the new state laws. But those officials, interpreting the new state standards in dramatically different ways , have removed hundreds of books in some districts and few to none in others.

Despite those high numbers and the heated emotions around the topic, only 1% of survey respondents said they had personally participated in restricting student book access.

That checks out in Florida, where some conservative activists are responsible for hundreds of challenges each, making up a large percentage of the objections statewide.

Florida recently enacted a law trying to reduce some objections. It prevents people who are not parents or guardians of a "student with access to school district materials" from filing more than one book challenge a month.

The survey was conducted from late February to early March. More than 4,500 adults were polled, including 1,138 parents of students. The Knight Foundation funds "free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, (and) research in areas of media and democracy," according to its website.

"There really, to us, seemed to be a critical gap in nonpartisan data around how Americans are feeling on this topic," said Kyla Gabriel, director of learning and impact at the Knight Foundation, in an interview. "That's sort of the premise for this work overall."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Survey finds strong opposition to school library restrictions despite Florida book bans