Poll: only 34 percent of Americans confident in public schools

A new Gallup poll finds that Southerners, young people and people without a college education have more faith in the nation's public school system than other Americans.

Overall, only 34 percent of Americans express a great deal of confidence in the nation's schools, continuing a record low that began in 2005. In the 1970s and 80s, that number never dipped below 40 percent.

Gallup points out that Americans have reported lower confidence in all public institutions over the past few years, not just schools.

Forty-three percent of Democrats said they were confident in the school system, compared with 19 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Republicans. People tended to rate their local schools better than the overall system. See the poll's full results here.