Public presentations of research about charter schools have been politicized, polarized, and personalized, fueling cynicism about whether research can generate objective knowledge and promote the collective good. This article draws two distinctions: between politics as a corrupting force and politics as a healthy and necessary component of democratic decision making, and between politicization that permeates the research itself and politicization of the ways in which research is communicated to the policy world. Using charter school research as a window into broader issues relating to democracy and societal learning, it identifies factors behind politicization, some of which are particular to the way that issue has evolved, some of which have to do with exacerbating factors in the broader political environment. Based on this analysis, it outlines what steps might be taken to strengthen institutions and practices that do not so much seek to buffer research from politics as to improve the ways in which research is used in a political world.