CNN's Harry Enten says most Americans agree with President Donald Trump that higher education has a serious problem, pointing to a steep decline in public confidence and growing concerns about liberal bias on college campuses, Mediaite reported.
Public trust in higher education has fallen dramatically in recent years, and a growing number of Americans — across party lines — say they agree with Trump that U.S. colleges and universities are in serious trouble.
Enten reported Thursday that the percentage of Americans expressing high confidence in higher education has plummeted from 57% in 2015 to 36% last year. The decline is especially pronounced among Republicans, where confidence has fallen 36 percentage points over the same period.
"That number has plummeted, plummeted as of last year, down to 36%. We're talking about a 36-point drop among Republicans specifically," Enten said in a segment with CNN anchor Kate Bolduan. "Get this: 68% of Americans said that higher education was on the wrong track."
The polling also reveals significant concerns over perceived political bias in higher education. Enten highlighted survey results showing that 45% of Americans overall — and 67% of Republicans — believe colleges and universities lean too far to the political left.
"What we see in polling after polling after polling is that the plurality says, yes, overall, look at that. Forty-five percent of Americans overall agree with the idea that colleges have a liberal bias. Just 24% disagree with that idea," Enten said.
While the data suggest some Americans are unsure about Trump's approach, the broad agreement with his underlying message is unmistakable.
"It's a question of whether or not people agree with Trump's tactics, but they definitely agree with him on the idea that there is a problem with higher ed overall," Enten said.
Enten also shared a post on X summarizing the findings, reinforcing that many Americans "agree with Trump" on the state of higher education.
"This is why Donald Trump is so emphatic and so wanting to take on this fight, because he knows that Republicans hate universities, hate the administrations, believe they have a liberal bias," Enten said. "And in fact, the plurality of Americans overall agree with the idea, agree with Donald Trump, that colleges are in fact a place where bias reigns."
These findings arrive amid ongoing debates about campus free speech, diversity, and inclusion policies, and administrative practices in higher education. Trump's aggressive push to reform higher education — including legal challenges and executive actions — has drawn widespread media scrutiny and opposition from academic institutions.
Enten agrees: "I think a lot of Americans thought that higher [education] needed a nice kick in the rear end."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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