Currently, any child living in the United States legally or illegally is entitled to a free public education. Voters are closely divided over whether they agree with that policy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of Likely U.S. Voters say if a family is not in the country legally, their children should still be allowed to attend public school. That's a 13-point increase from the 32% who felt that way in August 2011. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree and think the children of illegal immigrants should not be allowed to go to public schools. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 4-5, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.