President Donald Trump is facing steep challenges with college-educated voters, as new polling shows his approval rating among the group steadily declining throughout the summer.
In June, just 34 percent of college graduates approved of Trump’s job performance, while 63 percent disapproved, according to Gallup polling. That margin widened in July, with approval slipping to 32 percent against 66 percent disapproval. By August, Trump hit a new low with only 28 percent approving and 70 percent disapproving.
Why It Matters
College-educated voters are a growing and influential bloc in U.S. elections, particularly in suburban areas that often decide swing states. Historically aligned with Democrats, their dissatisfaction with Trump could further weaken Republican chances of flipping or holding swing seats in 2026, shaping the balance of power in Congress.
What To Know
In his second term, the Trump administration has attempted to force change and cut federal funding at universities that he says have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.
Harvard University has borne the brunt of the crackdown. The White House canceled about $100 million in federal contracts, froze $3.2 billion in research funding, and sought to block the university from enrolling international students. Officials also demanded reforms to admissions and oversight of course content and threatened to remove its tax-exempt status. The unprecedented measures triggered a wave of protests on campus and drew comparisons to Cold War-era loyalty tests.
The Trump administration has also cut off money to other elite colleges, including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, over issues including the handling of pro-Palestinian activism and transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. Harvard has framed the government’s demands as a threat to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.
Amid the crackdown, the Gallup poll shows that just 26 percent of college graduates approve of Trump’s handling of education, while 71 percent disapprove.
An AP-NORC survey from May paints a similar picture nationally: 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s approach to higher education.
Among Republicans, however, Trump’s hard line resonates strongly. Roughly 8 in 10 Republicans approve of his handling of higher education, an even higher share than the 70 percent who back him on the economy. About 6 in 10 Republicans also say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about liberal bias on campuses, reflecting Trump’s framing of universities as bastions of left-wing orthodoxy.
Still, Republicans are split on how far to go: while about half support cutting federal funding to schools that refuse to follow Trump’s directives, roughly a quarter oppose such measures, and another quarter remains undecided.
The polling also highlights a stark divide by education level: 62 percent of college graduates oppose stripping funding from universities, compared with a more ambivalent response from non-graduates, among whom opinion is split evenly or uncertain.
But for the broader public, cost—not politics—is the top issue. Six in 10 Americans are deeply concerned about tuition expenses, a worry that spans party lines and eclipses anxieties about campus bias or antisemitism.
For the 2024–25 school year, tuition and fees at in-state public four-year colleges average about $11,610 per year, according to data from the College Board and Bankrate. When factoring in room, board, books, and other expenses, the total annual cost of attendance rises to $29,910 for in-state students, $49,080 for out-of-state students, and roughly $61,990 at private nonprofit four-year institutions. After financial aid, however, the “net price” drops to an average of $20,800 at public universities and $36,150 at private colleges, according to BestColleges.
These prices reflect decades of consistent increases. Since 1963, the total cost of a public in-state college degree has increased from the equivalent of $2,489 to $89,556 in 2022–23, according to EducationData.org. Over the past decade alone, tuition at in-state public universities has risen by nearly 58 percent, while out-of-state public tuition has climbed almost 30 percent. Private college tuition saw a similar surge, rising by more than 27 percent.
As a result, recent bachelor’s degree recipients now graduate with an average of around $29,000 in student loan debt and enter a job market that is far from favorable.
As of early 2025, adults aged 25 and above with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a low unemployment rate of 2.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But younger graduates are struggling: just 69.6 percent of recent bachelor’s recipients aged 20–29 were employed in late 2024, with unemployment among 23–27-year-old degree holders rising to nearly 6 percent, well above the national average of 4.2 percent.
Those challenges are reflected in polling. A Gallup survey found that 39 percent of college graduates describe the nation’s economic conditions as “poor,” far outpacing the share who see them positively. Meanwhile, 64 percent reported struggling to find a job.
“It’s such a vital thing for people to know that the gamble of going to trade school or college, whatever it happens to be, is something that’s going to have a payoff that allows you to work hard and be able to make it,” Noah Widmann, a 29-year-old Democrat looking to challenge Republican Representative Cory Mills in Florida, told the Washington Post this month. “Both sides have had their failures here for young people…And those fears are credible. The way that people feel is real and it’s legitimate.”
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