President Donald Trump is facing a mounting backlash from college-educated Americans as new polling shows his approval rating among degree holders plummeting to the lowest levels of his presidency.
According to Gallup’s latest numbers, just 28 percent of college graduates approve of Trump’s job performance as of August 2025 — down from 34 percent in June. A staggering 70 percent now disapprove, underscoring growing resistance to Trump’s hardline policies targeting universities.
“This is the lowest point we’ve ever recorded for any president among college-educated voters in the modern era,” said Gallup senior analyst Rebecca Klein. “We’re watching a political realignment happen in real time.”
The numbers are alarming for Republicans as college graduates represent one of the fastest-growing voter blocs in the U.S., especially in suburban swing districts that often decide elections. Trump’s deteriorating support could dramatically reshape the 2026 midterms, making it harder for Republicans to flip competitive seats or hold onto power in Congress.
“Suburban voters with college degrees are abandoning Trump in droves,” explained Democratic strategist Maria Chavarria. “That shift could cost the GOP its majority in the House next year.”
Trump’s second-term education agenda has been nothing short of explosive. He has accused universities of being “radical breeding grounds for antisemitism, woke ideology, and hatred of America” — and has used federal power to punish them.
Harvard University, long a conservative punching bag, has been ground zero for the administration’s crackdown. The White House has:
- Canceled $100 million in federal contracts
- Frozen $3.2 billion in research funding
- Attempted to block international student enrollment
- Threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status
Similar measures have targeted Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell over their handling of pro-Palestinian protests and policies on transgender athletes.
“These are unprecedented attacks on academic freedom,” said Harvard law professor Erica Williams, speaking at a rally earlier this month. “This is about control. It’s about silencing dissent on campus.”
Trump’s approach has electrified his base but alienated moderates. Roughly 8 in 10 Republicans support his higher-education policies, yet independents and college graduates overwhelmingly oppose them.
An AP-NORC survey from May found that 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of higher education. Even among Republicans, there’s division: while about half favor cutting federal funds for noncompliant schools, a quarter oppose such actions and another quarter remain undecided.
Despite Trump’s focus on campus politics, the cost of higher education — not ideology — remains the top concern for most Americans.
Average tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year colleges are now $11,610 per year, with the full cost of attendance reaching nearly $30,000 annually. At private universities, students face a staggering $61,990 per year before aid, according to data from the College Board.
Decades of relentless price hikes have left graduates drowning in debt. Today, the average student borrower leaves school owing around $29,000.
“Young people are questioning whether college is even worth it,” said Noah Widmann, a 29-year-old Democrat running for Congress in Florida. “The promise of higher education has been broken. And voters are angry — rightfully so.”
Democrats are seizing the moment, framing Trump’s actions as part of a broader culture war that threatens freedoms beyond the classroom. “This is bigger than higher ed,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “This is about whether we want government dictating what we can teach, who we can admit, and what we can study.”
With midterms on the horizon, Democrats see Trump’s plummeting approval among college graduates as a potential game-changer. “If these trends hold,” strategist Chavarria added, “we could be looking at a Democratic wave in 2026.”
Trump’s battle with universities has united his loyalists but alienated a powerful and growing segment of the electorate. As tuition costs soar and job prospects dim for young graduates, his education policies may prove to be his Achilles’ heel.
“Trump thinks he’s winning this fight,” Williams said at Harvard’s protest rally. “But he’s losing an entire generation.”
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Colleges are too expensive and too woke! More worried about indoctrination than teaching people how to think their way through problems! Too many so called professionals no longer know their jobs better then laymen with common sense!
Reform is needed badly and why should the federal government give grants to certain universities at the expense of all taxpayers?
Why does Harvard for example have so many assets? The expense to attend is way to high!!!
Yep, typical NextGen LIE that Trump is at war with higher education! Trump HAS higher education… vastly higher than Democrats that quit learning by 4th grade.
Trump is against colleges pimping DEI/discrimination, perversions, lies, crime, murdering, WOKE NONSENSE.