Poll: Confidence in Higher Education ‘Down Sharply’

Americans’ confidence in higher education is “down sharply” across all major subgroups, with Republicans leading the charge, a new Gallup survey found. 

Thirty-six percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, which is significantly lower than Gallup’s prior readings in 2015 (57 percent) and 2018 (48 percent). Forty percent of Americans have “some” confidence” and 22 percent have “very little” confidence in higher education, the survey found. 

The poll was conducted between June 1-22, 2023 with a random sample of 1,013 adults living in the United States. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. 

“The latest decline in the public’s trust in higher education is from a June 1-22 Gallup poll that also found confidence in 16 other institutions has been waning in recent years. Many of these entities, which are tracked more often than higher education, are now also at or near their lowest points in confidence,” according to the survey report. “Although diminished, higher education ranks fourth in confidence among the 17 institutions measured, with small business, the military and the police in the top three spots. This was also the case in 2018, the last time higher education was included in the list of institutions.”

The survey found that all major subgroups, “led by Republicans,” are less confident in higher education. 

When Gallup polled Americans in 2015, majorities of all key subgroups besides independents (48 percent) said they had confidence in higher education. By 2018, those percentages fell across all subgroups, “with the largest drop, 17 percentage points, among Republicans,” the survey report states.

The latest measure finds that confidence across all key subgroups has fallen again, with Republicans sinking 20 points to 19 percent, ” the lowest of any group.” Adults without a college degree and those 55 and older dropped nearly as much as GOP voters since 2018, the survey found.

While Democrats’ confidence in higher education has declined in recent years (68 percent in 2015 and 62 percent in 2018), they are the only key subgroup with a majority level of confidence in the institution (59 percent).

Gallup did not ask respondents to give their reasons for having less confidence in higher education, but the pollster speculated that “the rising costs of postsecondary education likely play a significant role.”

Other polling from Wall Street Journal-NORC released in March of 2023 indicated that a majority of Americans believe college is “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off. ” The survey found that 56 percent of Americans said, “College is not worth the cost,” while 42 percent said it is “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more income over their lifetime.” 

“Seventy-five percent of Americans believe people do not attend college because they cannot afford it. Beyond the price tag, many believe that students may need to work immediately (62 percent), and more than half (59 percent) say that Americans could earn a good living without a college degree,” according to the pollster. 

The largely-conservative view that colleges and universities tend to be hotbeds of leftwing ideology could also be driving Republicans’ loss of confidence in higher education, Gallup further speculated.

“There is a growing divide between Republicans’ and Democrats’ confidence in higher education. Previous Gallup polling found that Democrats expressed concern about the costs, while Republicans registered concern about politics in higher education,” the survey report states.