According to the poll, conducted between June 1-22, just 36% of American adults expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education; 40% said they had “some” and 22% expressed “very little” confidence. The 36% level is down sharply from prior surveys in 2015 and 2018, where the comparable levels were 57% and 48%, respectively. And the 22% expressing “very little” confidence is more than double what was reported in 2015 .
Of particular concern for higher education leaders was the poll’s finding that confidence in higher ed was plunging across all major subgroups.. In 2015, majorities of Americans in all key subgroups expressed confidence in higher education, with the exception of political independents .across all groups, with the largest drop, 17 percentage points, occurring among Republicans. The new survey shows those declines to be continuing or even accelerating.
If it’s any small consolation, Gallup found that the latest decline in the public’s trust in higher education was not unique. Faith in several other American institutions has sunk to historic lows, according to Gallup’s survey of, such as Congress, the military, organized religion, the Supreme Court, public schools and newspapers.
Many of these institutions are now at, or near, their lowest points in public confidence, according to Gallup’s tracking. In fact, higher education ranked fourth in confidence among the 17 institutions measured, with small business , the military and the police in the top three spots. The bottom three were TV news , big business , and Congress .