Parents like their kids' schools. Education is still a problem for liberals.

Polls point to problems for Dems over a local, national divide

A rotten apple.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

Americans are satisfied in particular, but mad in general. That's the finding of a new poll on education by NPR and Ipsos. Consistent with other recent studies, the survey found majorities of parents approve of the schools their children attend, but worry about the condition of education around the country.

The gap between people's assessment of their own experiences and their broader judgments isn't limited to education. Political scientists invoke "Fenno's Paradox" — the observation that voters approve of their own representative while disapproving of Congress. Although it seems counterintuitive, the explanation isn't hard to grasp. Members of Congress work hard to understand and satisfy the preferences of their own constituents, whose support they need for reelection. They have weaker incentives to cooperate with other members of Congress in order to promote a coherent national agenda, encouraging the conclusion that Congress as a whole is gridlocked and dysfunctional.

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Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and was a postdoctoral fellow in Religion, Ethics, & Politics at Princeton University. His books include God's Country: Christian Zionism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and After Nationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). In addition to academic research, Goldman's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.