Today, in all schools of Russia, educational standards for religious education for primary and middle school students are being introduced, but public opinion on the issue of changing the standards of secular general education has not yet been studied. To overcome this gap, public opinion polls have been conducted on this innovation. The most difficult and diverse regions in the ethnic, religious and cultural aspects were chosen as the location for the surveys, which, due to their peculiarities, are also the most informative from the point of view of the clash of religious interests - the republic of the North Caucasus. Earlier studies have shown a high respect for the representatives of monotheistic religions by the overwhelming majority of residents of the republics of the North Caucasus Federal District, but the issues of teaching the basics of their own and foreign religions in secondary schools are quite acute and require special consideration. On the basis of the conducted research, significant differences were revealed in relation to the lessons of religious education in different republics. The authors came to following conclusions: 1) to take public opinion into account in order to adjust the process of changing the standards of general education on the territory of the North Caucasus adequate to the public demand; 2) to conduct similar research in the territory of each subject of Russia and the adjustment of education standards in accordance with the data obtained.