A new Gallup survey shows public confidence in American higher education has declined amid rising concerns over campus politics and financial value following a brief period of recovery last year.
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Just the News reports that the latest Gallup survey done in partnership with the Lumina Foundation shows the percentage of respondents who say they have a “great deal/quite a lot” of confidence in higher education has dropped to 38 percent from 42 percent.
Public trust in higher education continues to fall.
This year’s Gallup survey of higher ed shows that the decline in trust is also bipartisan.
Distrust is now almost as high among people who went to college as among those who did not. pic.twitter.com/zYs82sFCkw
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The figure represents a noticeable drop from last year, when trust in the sector experienced a modest uptick to 42 percent.
Chance Layton, communications director for the National Association of Scholars, explained “Any decline is likely for the same reasons we’ve seen confidence declines over the last decade: increased costs and poor results; over-politicization and moral vapidness.”
Gallup researchers also noted, “U.S. public confidence in higher education remains much lower than it was a decade ago, but Americans’ views are not quite as negative as they were in 2024, when roughly equal shares had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence as had very little or none.”
Those with a postgraduate degree consistently show the most trust in higher education, followed by four-year degree-holders, and finally, those with no college degree.
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However, the survey found that confidence declined across all education levels by 5 percent between 2025 and 2026—a loss of nearly all gains made between 2024 and 2025.
Three common themes that appear to drive the growing skepticism include partisan bias or indoctrination on college campuses, the high cost of a college degree, and the belief that colleges are failing to prepare students to succeed in the modern job market.
Gallup researchers also say that 46 percent of Americans believe advancements in artificial intelligence will make a college degree less important over the next five years, whereas only 20 percent believe it will make a degree more important.
The findings arrive amid a push by the Trump administration to dismantle viewpoint discrimination, antisemitism, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks across U.S. universities.
Confidence in higher education slips after brief recovery, Gallup poll finds | Joshua Nelson, Fox News
Public confidence in American higher education has taken a fresh hit, erasing a brief period of recovery, as concerns over campus politics and financial value intensify,… pic.twitter.com/1H7GAIIDJ2
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