NEW YORK, NY – Between June 10th and June 13th, 2025, the Manhattan Institute conducted a survey of 2,000 registered voters nationwide to provide insights into policies, controversies, and sentiments surrounding higher education.
Just 15% of voters say they have a great deal of trust in Ivy League colleges—less than nearly every other public institution, including the media. Across demographics and party lines, voters say higher education is on the wrong track, with overwhelming support for bold changes.
The Manhattan Institute poll found broad support for:
- Reining in DEI and abolishing race-based admissions: A majority, 57%, supported requiring universities to adopt a colorblind approach, with only 18% opposed. A race-neutral admissions approach is preferred by majorities in all groups, including Democrats (69%), Republicans (79%) and independents (66%), as well as White voters (77%), Black voters (54%), Hispanic voters (67%), and Asian voters (55%).
- Prioritizing free speech: More than half (51%) say that universities should protect free speech even if it offends, while only 36% say it is more important for universities to protect students from perceived offensive or harmful speech, and 13% are unsure.
- Restoring academic rigor: Almost two in every three registered voters (64%) support prioritizing truth over ideology by enforcing rigorous academic standards, controlling for academic fraud, requiring preregistration of scientific studies, and basing decisions on merit; only 8% are opposed. This wins majority support among every group, including Democrats (60%), independents (59%) and Republicans (76%).
- Enforcing civil discourse: Voters overwhelmingly support banning behaviors that undermine campus order and safety, including: damaging school property (79%), calling for violence against ethnic or religious groups (75%), calling for violence against specific countries (73%), burning the American flag or flag of another country (70%), expressing support for terrorist organizations (63%), setting up encampments (59%), and using loudspeakers or making disruptive noise (53%).
Despite deep political division, Americans agree that higher education has lost its way. To that end, over forty respected leaders in academia signed The Manhattan Statement on Higher Education, which recapitulates the crisis of the universities and calls on President Trump to advance six principles for reform: truth over ideology, institutional neutrality, colorblind equality, free speech, civil discourse, and administrative transparency.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo distills this higher education initiative in a new op-ed for The Free Press.
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