According to a new Pew Research Center study, 58% of Trump supporters say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country.
This marks a 45 percent increase from last year’s study. Comparatively, 72 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents say higher education has a positive impact on the nation.
Pew Research Center study:
As recently as two years ago, most Republicans and Republican leaners held a positive view of the role of colleges and universities. In September 2015, 54% of Republicans said colleges and universities had a positive impact on the way things were going in the country; 37% rated their impact negatively.
By 2016, Republicans’ ratings of colleges and universities were mixed (43% positive, 45% negative). Today, for the first time on a question asked since 2010, a majority (58%) of Republicans say colleges and universities are having a negative effect on the way things are going in the country, while 36% say they have a positive effect.
Among Republicans, there is an ideological gap in views of the impact of colleges and universities and other institutions: Nearly two-thirds of conservative Republicans (65%) say colleges are having a negative impact, compared with just 43% of moderate and liberal Republicans.
Fifty-five percent of the general population was also found to think positively of higher education. The research center surveyed 2,504 adults across the country last month.