June 27, 2025 9:58AM # Maybe Most People Do *Not* Want Teacher-Led Public School Prayer—But They *Do* Want Chaplains By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... In the last couple of days, we have seen not one but *two* survey reports addressing how American adults feel about teacher-led prayer in public schools. I’m not sure why the one-two punch, but today, a [new AP-NORC poll ](https://apnorc.org/projects/the-public-holds-nuanced-views-on-the-role-of-religion-in-public-schools/?doing_wp_cron=1750979774.2113130092620849609375)came out showing a majority *opposition* to such prayer. I [wrote yesterday](https://nealmccluskey.substack.com/p/most-people-want-teacher-led-prayer) about a Pew Research Center survey finding majority *support*. While Pew found up to 57 percent of adults supported such prayer, AP-NORC found only 44 percent approval. ![Majority opposes teacher led prayer in public schools](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2025-06/No%20teacher%20led%20prayer.png?itok=cR_nFtRm) Forty-four percent is still higher than I would have expected, but I was very surprised by Pew’s finding majority support. Note below that 44 percent support was down from 48 percent support in 2022 AP-NORC polling. ![Support for teacher-led prayer dropped from 48 percent to 44 percent between 2022 and 2025](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2025-06/New%20Prayer%20Topline.png?itok=i2IOsY3w) A major explanation for the disparity between AP-NORC and Pew might be that the Pew results are actually from a survey fielded from July 17, 2023 to March 4, 2024—well more than a year old. I’m not sure why Pew is writing about this now. The AP-NORC survey was fielded between June 5 and June 9, 2025, so I would take its results as more reflective of current opinion. But again, like Pew’s survey, it shows that a substantial share of the public supports teacher-led prayer in public schools, if not a majority. Another interesting AP-NORC finding is majority approval—58 percent—for chaplains “providing support services” in public schools. I was also surprised by the majority support here. ![58 percent of adults support chaplains in public schools](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2025-06/Chaplains%20allowed.png?itok=5qzC8mhv) There’s a lot more in the AP-NORC survey worth addressing, but I wanted to flag the teacher-led prayer question right away because I had just written about the Pew results. *This blog is lightly edited and cross-posted from the author’s* [*Substack*](https://nealmccluskey.substack.com/p/maybe-most-people-do-not-want-teacher)*.* ##### Related Tags [Free Speech and Civil Liberties](https://www.cato.org/free-speech-civil-liberties), [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).