How Americans feel about book bans, restrictions: Survey

As schools and libraries across the country face record-breaking attempts to remove books from shelves, most Americans are opposed to book restrictions in public schools, according to a new survey.

In 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials and resources.

The targeting of unique book titles increased by 65% from 2022 to 2023, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA.

These efforts have increased alongside state legislation restricting certain school content on topics like race, sex, gender and more.

However, a new study by the Knight Foundation – a nonprofit that provides grants for journalism and the arts – found that two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books. There are more strong opponents than strong supporters of book restrictions, with a 3-1 divide among respondents.

The study found that 62% of Americans oppose their state government legislating what content is allowable in school books.

Public school parents are more likely to be in favor of book restrictions, but more than half of parents (59%) still oppose book restrictions. This is lower than the 67% opposition rate among non-parents.

About 7% of parents with reading-age children reported their child reading an age-inappropriate book from school, and 25% of pre-K-12 parents are concerned about this happening in the future.

Classroom or library content restrictions are often based on concerns about what is deemed “age-appropriate” for certain ages -- as is the case in legislation in Florida, Utah, Texas and other states.

More survey participants said it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is for them to have access to books that have inappropriate content, especially when it comes to students in middle school and high school.

Six in 10 survey respondents saw age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to restrict students’ book access. However, the report found that far fewer say it is legitimate to block access to books that contradict parents’ political views, religious beliefs or moral values.

Most public school parents are confident in the appropriateness of their school’s book selections. The study also found that 78% of all adults say they are confident that their community’s public schools select appropriate books for students to read.

Though the public feels strongly about the issue -- 62% call it highly important -- very few have taken action themselves on the issue. Only 3% have personally engaged in the debate, according to the report -- 2% engaging to maintain access and 1% to restrict access.

Conservatives are over-represented in the support for book restrictions, making up 57% of book restriction supporters but only 27% of all adults, according to the Knight Foundation. Conservatives are also less likely to feel politically represented in public school books.