Why Republicans Distrust Higher Education (and What We Can Do about It)

This summer, both the Gallup news organization and the Pew Research Center conducted research about attitudes toward higher education. Not surprisingly, both surveys found that respondents who identify as Republican have a greater distrust of higher education than do those who identify as Democrat. Because it is important both for the diversity of the academic climate and the overall financial health of institutions to attract students from families across the political spectrum, colleges and universities must act now to prevent a significant portion of the population from turning its back on higher education.