Do Americans Still (Mostly) Love Their Universities?

If you’ve picked up a newspaper or talked to the average American about colleges in the last few years, you’ve likely gotten mixed reviews. After all, tuition rates keep rising, the wage premium of college degrees isn’t what it used to be, and colleges are increasingly accused of ideological intolerance and inadequate education.

Yet a September poll conducted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy found that general confidence in higher education seems to be on the upswing. Higher education’s net positive rating (i.e., the difference between the percentage who were highly confident in it and the percentage who were not) was found to be +32, just slightly lower than the +33 achieved by the U.S. military. This turnaround was driven by overwhelming support for universities among Democrats, although independents and traditional Republicans (i.e., individuals who identify with the Republican party more than the MAGA movement) were also a net positive, while MAGA-identifying respondents were a net negative.

Ideologically neutral teaching had a net confidence score of -9 percent, while affordability was at an abysmal -48 percent. Compared to a similar poll from June, the number of people who believed a college education was “‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ important for a young person to succeed” rose two percentage points, to 78 percent. Eighty-seven percent of Democrats believed this in the most recent poll, compared to 68 percent of Republicans. Sixty-five percent of all surveyed thought that colleges had a positive effect on society, with majorities of both Democrats and traditional Republicans believing this. Yet 65 percent of MAGA-identifying individuals believed the opposite.

Trump’s crackdown may ironically be promoting increased support for universities. Of all types of higher-education institutions, community colleges received the highest confidence rating of 70 percent. This compared to 48 percent for the Ivy League, which was itself higher than the 40-percent mark achieved by universities in the Southeastern Conference (of which Vanderbilt is a member), though the former number was more polarized by political affiliation.

A majority of Americans also expressed strong belief in the importance of university research. Fifty-six percent were confident that colleges are conducting life-saving research, while 45 percent believed that colleges are producing important social-science and humanities scholarship. (One wonders if the public has actually read the relevant peer-reviewed journals.) These two categories had the highest net confidence scores among the higher-ed accomplishments mentioned in the poll, followed by universities’ ability to foster viewpoint diversity, provide career preparation, nurture independent thinkers, and create jobs. Yet ideologically neutral teaching had a net confidence score of -9 percent, while affordability was at an abysmal -48 percent.

What does all this suggest? The boost in confidence may be due in part to the thermostatic nature of American politics, with Trump’s crackdown ironically promoting increased support for universities. Or perhaps the increased media coverage of universities due to Trump’s policies, as well as those universities’ extensive lobbying campaigns, have swayed the public.

It is also telling that the research functions of universities had the highest net-positivity scores (and higher confidence ratings). Research is an integral aspect of higher education, of course, but it is also largely divorced from the other main goal: to educate future generations. When it came to matters of student instruction and education, confidence scores began slipping in the most recent poll. In the case of affordability and ideological neutrality, important components of college accessibility and proper liberal-arts education, respectively, scores went totally negative.

Indeed, two-thirds of Americans surveyed indicated that they were “somewhat” or “very” worried about ideological and political bias at universities, and 71 percent believed universities should stop taking stances on controversial positions. While these beliefs were more prominent among traditional Republicans and MAGA ones, a majority of Democrats also held them. Interestingly, respondents were more likely to attribute bias to administrators than to professors.

While this poll indicates a slight bump in overall support for universities, a deeper dive reveals that, in several dimensions central to their core missions, universities remain underwater with the majority of the American public.

Zev van Zanten is an economics and mathematics student at Duke University.