Thursday Edition: Schools and Presidential Candidates

Where does each 2024 candidate stand on schools and learning? (Education Week)

Kamala Harris: Democrats on Monday ratified their 2024 platform, which gives us a glimpse into how they plan to govern on education.

• Harris and her fellow Dems will push for universal pre-K, bolster vocational training programs, decrease reliance on standardized tests and focus on improving teacher workplace conditions.

• Democrats are also touting the additional 14,000 counselors and social workers hired under the Biden administration.

What Dems’ platform says about school choice:

Bubba’s Two Cents

Unsurprisingly, this is an area of great policy difference between the two candidates. I think one way to think about it is Harris is all about bolstering the status quo (hiring more non-teacher staff, expanding the scope of public school education via universal pre-K) whereas Trump wants to remake it. A key question is whether the status quo needs changing, and the chart below pretty much captures my feelings on that.

Read more about the state of public education in America in our School Edition, which we published a few months back.

Republicans have accused the media of showering Kamala Harris with glowing coverage since she entered the 2024 race, and new data seems to back up their criticisms. (Fox News)

A Media Research Center survey: Harris has received 84% positive coverage on ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts since becoming the Democratic nominee for president.

• In contrast, Donald Trump’s coverage has been 89% negative during the same period.

• Harris also received 66% more airtime (221 minutes) than Trump (133 minutes) on the three networks.

The running mates: There have also been notable differences in how the press has covered Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Republicans’ vice presidential nominee.

• 62% of the coverage of Walz has been positive.

• Coverage of Vance has been almost universally negative (92%).

Related: Harris and Walz’s net favorability ratings have spiked, while Vance’s have declined significantly.

Walz:

Vance:

Bubba’s Two Cents

Is there a correlation between media coverage and the spike/decline in favorability ratings for Vance, Harris and Walz (Trump’s favorability ratings have increased slightly but he’s already so well-defined as a candidate I consider him an outlier)? You might say that Walz’s likability, Vance’s unlikability or the political circumstances of Harris’ ascendance explain the trend. And while some or all of those things may be factors, I say you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think the press has also had a significant effect.

For more examples of how the media’s been pretty sympathetic to Harris, check this out.

Is the hype around a growing gender gap in politics reflected in the 2024 election so far? (NBC News)

A new analysis by NBC News’ Steve Kornacki: Kamala Harris leads with women and Donald Trump leads with men in 4 out of 5 major national polls.

• In these polls, the gender gap ranges from 7 to 22 points.

• However, those numbers are in line with past elections.

• The gender gaps between Harris and Trump are bigger than they were between Trump and President Biden.

Zoom in: The gender gaps are much wider than past elections if you focus on swing states.

Kornacki: