A slight majority of Americans believe students should be required to say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school, a new Rasmussen Reports survey found.
When asked: “Should school children be required to say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school?” 55 percent of survey respondents agree that they should. That finding is down from 61 percent in 2019, potentially mirroring other polling showing a decrease in patriotism.
Three in ten oppose saying the pledge every day in school, and 15 percent are undecided, the survey found.
By political affiliation, Republicans are most likely to believe students should be required to say the pledge of allegiance every morning (77 percent), followed by unaffiliated voters (48 percent) and Democrats (43 percent).
By sex, women (57 percent) are more likely than men (53 percent) to believe students should say the pledge of allegiance at school. By age, Americans ages 40 and older are more likely than adults under 40 to approve of children saying the pledge every morning at school, 60 percent to 44 percent.
The survey also asked respondents: “Does the United States provide ‘liberty and justice for all,”‘ and “Is the United States ‘one nation under God?”‘
Under half of those polled (48 percent) agree that the United States is “one nation under God,” while nearly 40 percent disagree (39 percent) and 13 percent are unsure, the survey found.
“Thirty-five percent (35 percent) say the United States provides ‘liberty and justice for all,’ but a majority (53 percent) think it does not and 13 percent are not sure,” according to the poll report.
Among those who believe students should be required to say the pledge every morning, 75 percent believe the U.S. is “one nation under God.” More than half of those who do not believe the U.S. is “one nation under God,” 53 percent, are against requiring the pledge. the survey found.
Republicans are most likely to say the United States is “one nation under God” at 67 percent, compared to 41 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of unaffiliated voters.
“Forty-eight percent (48 percent) of Republicans, 35 percent of Democrats, and 24 percent of the unaffiliated say the United States provides ‘liberty and justice for all,'” the survey report reads.
The survey was conducted with 1,238 American adults on July 25 and July 28-28, 2024. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
