Americans’ confidence in higher education continues to slide. This year, the biggest drop came from an unexpected group: Democrats.
A defining feature of every Fourth Turning is a collapse in institutional trust. Few institutions have felt that decline more than colleges.
According to a new Gallup survey, only 38% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education. That’s a -4 percentage point decline since 2025, and a -19 point decline since 2015.
Confidence fell across the political spectrum, but the largest YoY decline came among Democrats. Just 50% now trust higher education, down -11 points from last year. Republicans remain far more skeptical, with only 23% expressing confidence, though that figure fell by just -3 points YoY.
So why did confidence among Democrats suddenly drop -11 points in a single year?
Some of the drop can likely be traced to recent controversies. Many Democrats are concerned that the proliferation of AI is allowing students to cut corners. And progressives have criticized elite universities for reaching settlements with the Trump administration after it threatened to withhold federal funding.
But there may be a broader problem: Universities increasingly seem out of touch with the political and cultural mood of the country. Just a few years ago, campuses were at the center of debates over “wokeness” and gender identity. Since then, the country has shifted in a more socially conservative direction, some of it driven by younger Democrats. But academia has been slow to adjust.
Universities also seem increasingly disconnected from the issues now animating the left, particularly affordability. Elite colleges portray themselves as engines of opportunity and social progress, yet many charge prices that are only affordable to the wealthy or require students to take on substantial debt. As Americans increasingly question whether a college degree is worth the cost, that contradiction is becoming harder to ignore. (See “The Fading College Dream.”)