11 Jul Taking a Pulse on Education: Key Findings from a June 2025 Poll of Tennessee Republican Primary Voters

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Statewide Poll of Tennessee Republican Primary Voters Finds Overwhelming Support for Expanding School Choice and Improved School Performance

Nashville, TN — A new survey of 500 likely Republican Primary Voters across Tennessee reveals strong support for expanding school choice, increasing parental rights in their children’s education, and driving school and district investments towards academic programs that address student’s educational needs. Together, the results show a party electorate increasingly focused on educational accountability and academic outcomes.

A one-page overview of survey results is available here.

Tennessee Republican Primary Voters Want Parents to Be the Ones Making Decisions about their Child’s Education

  • 70% of Tennessee Republican primary voters trust parents the most to make choices about their children’s education, while 21% say teachers and 4% say local administrators and school boards. 

Tennessee Republican Primary Voters Remain Very Supportive of School Choice

  • Statewide, 66% of Republican primary voters support expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship Program to allow more students to participate. 
  • Among Republicans who voted for President Trump, three-quarters (75%) support expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship Program, including 55% who strongly support it. 
  • Regionally, support for expansion is highest in Memphis (77% Support – 11% Oppose)

Tennessee Republican Primary Voters Have a Strong Desire to Improve School Performance

  • Overall, only 31% of Republican primary voters rate the quality of education in Tennessee as either excellent or good, while 42% say it is fair and 22% say it is poor. 
  • Regionally, in the Memphis area, only 20% of Republican primary voters rate the quality of education in Tennessee as excellent or good. 
  • A total of 71% of Republican primary voters say the issue of improving education is either extremely or very important to them when deciding who to vote for State Legislative races, including 32% who say it is extremely important. 

Broad Support for Encouraging School Districts to Spend Resources Based On Students’ Academic Needs

  • 78% of Republican primary voters believe the $190 billion in nationwide federal COVID-19 emergency education dollars should have made a bigger impact.
  • Tennessee’s public schools received over $4.5 billion in federal COVID-10 education funding. Unlike other states, Tennessee encouraged school districts to spend at least fifty percent of their money based on students’ academic needs, and despite national declines in student performance during the pandemic, Tennessee’s students demonstrated notable improvements in proficiency. Among Republican primary voters, there is near uniform support (90%) for the idea of encouraging school districts to spend resources based on students’ academic needs.
  • 84% of Republican primary voters support a program that ensures that every school district is providing high dosage tutoring in literacy and math for students that are below grade level. 
  • 83% of Republican primary voters support evaluations from Kindergarten to third grade of a student’s foundational math skills that provide teachers with real time on student performance.

“Republican primary voters across our state are looking for bold action to improve education—not just more spending, but smarter, stronger investments and policies that are grounded in academics and based on student need,” said Chelsea Crawford, Executive Director of Tennesseans for Putting Students First. “These numbers show a clear mandate for expanding school choice, improving transparency and performance in schools, and providing resources that ensure every child is on a path to proficiency.”

The survey of n=500 Likely Tennessee Republican Primary Voters was conducted June 8 – 10, 2025. Respondents were contacted via live operator calls to cell phones and landlines as well as text to web.

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About Tennesseans for Putting Students First: Tennesseans for Putting Students First is a political advocacy organization that supports candidates who work to improve K-12 education in the State of Tennessee. Together, we are working to ensure all Tennessee children have access to high-quality schools, teachers, and programs that best serve their unique talents and needs.

About Chelsea Crawford, Executive Director, Tennesseans for Putting Students First: Chelsea Crawford is the Executive Director of Tennesseans for Putting Students First. She has fifteen years of experience in education policy and advocacy at local, state and federal levels. Previously, she served for more than four years as chief of staff at the Tennessee Department of Education, where she led policy and legislative affairs, communications and stakeholder engagement under two commissioners and through the COVID-19 pandemic.