Americans’ confidence in higher education has slipped again after ticking up last year, according to new Gallup-Lumina Foundation polling. Just 38% of U.S. adults now say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the institution, down from 42% in 2025 — and far below the 57% who felt that way when Gallup began tracking the measure in 2015.
Another 37% say they have “some” confidence, while a quarter of Americans report having “very little” or none at all. That share of skeptics has swung sharply over the past decade, rising from just 10% in 2015 to a peak of 32% in 2024 before easing to 23% last year.
The June 1-15 survey found the drop in confidence this year is concentrated almost entirely among Democrats. Only half of Democrats now say they’re confident in higher education, a new low for the group and down from 61% a year ago. Democrats are still more confident than independents (39%) or Republicans (23%), whose views held roughly steady. Republicans have seen the steepest long-term erosion of any group, falling 33 points since 2015, compared with an 18-point drop among Democrats and a 9-point decline among independents.
A familiar education gap persists: 43% of college graduates express confidence versus 35% of those without a four-year degree. But that gap is now driven almost entirely by people with postgraduate degrees. Forty-nine percent of Americans with graduate education are confident in higher education, compared with 36% of those with only a bachelor’s degree and 35% of nongraduates — figures that are nearly identical to each other.
Asked why they lack confidence, respondents pointed to three main culprits: perceived political agendas on campus (31%), the high cost of college (30%), and a sense that schools don’t adequately prepare students for the workforce (25%). Cost concerns rose this year, though they remain below the 35% who cited cost in 2024. Complaints about politics and job preparation eased somewhat. Roughly 8% each cited poor administration, weak educational quality, or Trump administration interference, and for the first time, 2% of respondents pointed to artificial intelligence and its disruptive effect on education and jobs.
Among those who remain confident, the top reasons were that higher education builds critical thinking and other skills (33%), makes people more informed and knowledgeable (30%), and improves job prospects (19%). Mentions of skill-building have climbed for two straight years, up from 19% in 2024.
A new survey question this year probed how AI might reshape the value of a degree. Americans are broadly pessimistic: 46% think AI will make college degrees less important over the next five years, more than double the 20% who expect degrees to become more valuable. Views split sharply along existing confidence lines — those already confident in higher education were far more likely to see AI enhancing degrees’ worth, while skeptics overwhelmingly (64%) expect AI to diminish it. Nongraduates were somewhat more pessimistic than graduates about degrees losing value.
Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones, who authored the report, notes that the findings suggest higher education’s central challenge going forward may be less about winning back public trust broadly and more about proving it can adapt instruction for an AI-altered job market.
