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@ISIDEWITHQuestionsEducationFederal FundingPublic SchoolsEducation policySocial WelfareChild Nutrition•••Started 4mos agoActive 4 days ago

Should the federal government provide free breakfast and lunch to all public school students regardless of income?

The National School Lunch Program currently feeds millions, but strict income limits often leave struggling families behind or cause "lunch shaming" for kids with unpaid debt. Proponents argue that food is as essential to education as textbooks and that universal access removes bureaucratic waste and social stigma. Opponents argue that feeding children is a parental responsibility and that subsidizing meals for wealthy families increases the deficit without addressing real poverty.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 4.8k America voters.

80%
Yes
20%
No
72%
Yes
14%
No
4%
Yes, hungry kids can't learn and means-testing creates lunch shaming
4%
No, keep the current means-tested system for families who truly need it
4%
Yes, but only if the food meets strict nutritional standards
1%
No, taxpayers should not be subsidizing meals for wealthy families
1%
No, feeding children is the parent’s responsibility, not the state’s

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 4.8k America voters.

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Historical Importance

Trend of how important this issue is for 4.8k America voters.

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from America voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @BDYD4Y6 from Texas  answered…2wks2W

No, I believe school meals should cost a subsidized fee.

 @BDY6C6T from Illinois  answered…2wks2W

No, but the states should do so

 @aminus57  from Hawaii  answered…3wks3W

NO, keep means-tested support for families who truly need it, but remove lunch shaming and ensure no child goes hungry. Dignity with stewardship.

 @BDNWRRD from California  answered…1mo1MO

No, I believe this should stay at the local level. Free food should be dependent on the poverty rate of that specific school district.

 @BDJ32LX from Nevada  answered…1mo1MO

No and Privatize education

 @BDNK87B from New York  answered…1mo1MO

No, this should be up to the states

 @BCRT3P6 from Colorado  answered…2mos2MO

Yes, but funding should come from states and municipalities.

 @BCRRXYC  from Oklahoma  answered…2mos2MO

Public School and the slop it crams into the mouths of innocent children should not be supported without massive overhauls to both systems.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Elizabeth Warren Walks Back Murder Comments

Congressional Democrats broadly denounced the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Friday morning, after Republicans started accusing Sen. Elizabeth Warren of excusing violence.“No one's condoning this,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). “Violence never is the right answer for anything. And it was a horrible murder, a tragic loss for his family.” Warren this week condemned the shooting, but added that people “can be pushed only so far.”"We'll say it over and over," Warren said on MSNBC’S “The ReidOut.” " Violence is never the answer. This guy [Luigi Mangione] gets a trial who's allegedly killed the CEO of UnitedHealth, but you can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands."In a statement to POLITICO, Warren said, “Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.” Top Republicans denounced Warren's comments and the walked-back rhetoric, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) calling it “inappropriate and dangerous.”Some House Democrats asked about the incident on Thursday pivoted the conversation to discuss policy options on health care or gun safety.“I don't really know that this is really a space that Congress normally weighs in on,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). “But at the end of the day, I think it’s an opportunity, because now people are talking about health care and to talk about the fact that this industry has honestly not been as helpful as it could be.”“Violence is never the answer,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.). “We know that there are people suffering, there’s great challenges in healthcare. There's great challenges, and people have, in fact, been wronged, but a process of governance is the way to address that, not violence.”And Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) who denounced the murder, said the killer should be prosecuted and that “I do know that allegedly a ghost gun was used, and we should also ban ghost guns. There's no reason for them beyond the streets.”

▲  1614 replies

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Israeli Bombings Kill 2,300 In Lebanon in 3 weeks

Lebanese authorities say Israeli bombing has killed more than 2,300 people and injured almost 11,000, mostly in the past three weeks, with Israeli attacks reaching areas far beyond Hizbollah’s traditional bastions of support in the south.The Israeli military has ordered people living in more than a quarter of Lebanon to flee, according to a UN calculation, as its fight with the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hizbollah threatens to engulf the Mediterranean country.Lebanese authorities say Israeli bombing has killed more than 2,300 people and injured almost 11,000, mostly in the past three weeks, with Israeli attacks reaching areas far beyond Hizbollah’s traditional bastions of support in the south.More than 1mn people have fled their homes in Lebanon in under a month, according to its government, a dramatic forced movement of the population in a country of only about 5mn inhabitants with a land mass smaller than the US state of Connecticut. Israeli forces began a ground offensive in south Lebanon two weeks ago, in their fourth invasion of the country in under five decades. They had already destroyed large parts of the densely populated southern Beirut suburb where Hizbollah had its headquarters, and killed many top militant commanders in air strikes, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah.Rema Jamous Imseis, Middle East director of UNHCR, told journalists in Geneva that “over 25 per cent of [Lebanon is] under a direct Israeli military evacuation order”. “People are heeding these calls to evacuate and they’re fleeing with almost nothing,” she added, saying that 80 per cent of the shelters opened by the Lebanese government — mostly in schools — were now full.

▲  1012 replies

About This Data

Based on 4.8k responses to this question.

These results come from iSideWith's ongoing political issues survey. We collect over a million responses per day, filter out duplicate and multiple submissions, and break the results down by political party, ideology, age, state, and census demographics (income, race, education, household).

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iSideWith. (2026). “Should the federal government provide free breakfast and lunch to all public school students regardless of income?” — Public Opinion Poll Results. Retrieved June 21, 2026, from https://www.isidewith.com/poll/5548713574

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