Overview
- The Trump administration has frozen $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard and cut funding to other elite universities, citing concerns over liberal bias, antisemitism, and policy disagreements.
- An AP-NORC poll conducted May 1–5 shows 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s higher education policies, while 40% approve, reflecting sharp partisan divides.
- Approximately 60% of Americans value universities' contributions to medical, scientific, and technological research and support maintaining federal funding for these efforts.
- Republicans largely back Trump’s approach to higher education, but they are split on punitive funding cuts, with only half supporting such measures.
- Public concern over the rising cost of college tuition significantly outweighs worries about campus bias or antisemitism, with 6 in 10 Americans identifying tuition costs as a key issue.