- While Americans offer modest support for higher education, confidence in public universities is substantially higher than in their private counterparts
- Support for foreign students transcends party lines, but sentiment around President Donald Trump’s handling of the issue remains polarized
- Confidence in personal financial outlook is shaky, with most Americans feeling Trump’s tariffs will impact them negatively
- The public expresses general support for deporting individuals who are residing illegally in the United States, so long as they receive a formal immigration hearing
- The public strongly believes presidents should follow the decisions made by the court, even if they disagree with that ruling. Even among Trump’s MAGA base, there is a belief that presidents should follow judicial decisions, even if they disagree with courts’ rulings
The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy recently conducted a national poll about Americans’ opinions on topics including higher education, the state of the economy under President Donald Trump’s administration and immigration, among other key issues.
The probability-based poll was fielded from June 6 to June 10, 2025, reaching 1,029 American adults in English and Spanish. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
The results reveal interesting nuances in public sentiment, as well as divisions among those Republican voters who identify as part of the Make America Great Again movement and those who identify more with the traditional Republican Party. While the divisions are not pervasive, they do appear across a range of topics, from policy preferences to personal interests.
“Tracking ‘Republicans’ as a single group of partisans no longer tells a complete story,” said John Geer, co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “There are notable differences in sentiment among MAGA Republicans and traditional Republicans, making it critical to consider this distinction when assessing the public’s thinking. On the Democrats’ side, our efforts to look for differences between wings of the party have found little to no differences.”
Identification with the MAGA movement reached an all-time high (52 percent) among Republicans after the inauguration, according to the February 2025 Vanderbilt Unity Poll. In this poll, it decreased to 44 percent.
Bipartisan Belief in Higher Education’s Importance Clashes with Plummeting Confidence
Trump’s policies and focus on higher education, especially at elite universities, present a unique opportunity to gauge sentiment about his actions and about broader issues surrounding higher education.
Though growing numbers of individuals are considering trade school or on-the-job training after high school, there is still broad bipartisan agreement that a college education is vital for success. Seventy-six percent of those surveyed think a college education is very or somewhat important. When assessed along party lines, 90 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Independents agree with that sentiment. Even among MAGA supporters, who are traditionally more critical of higher education, 57 percent say a college education is an important factor in a young person’s ability to succeed.
The belief that higher education is important, though, does not translate into confidence in institutions of higher education. Confidence in these institutions has been steadily declining since 2015. Gallup reports that 32 percent of respondents expressed “no confidence” in 2024, up substantially from 10 percent in 2015.
Given the Trump administration’s actions against elite institutions like Harvard, June’s Vanderbilt Unity Poll sought to test to see if Americans held different feelings for public universities than for private ones. The responses show notable differences.
Americans largely view public universities more favorably than private ones. Forty-six percent express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public colleges and universities, while 30 percent share that level of confidence in private colleges and universities. Only 15 percent of respondents express very little or no confidence in public institutions, while 26 percent express similarly low levels in private colleges and universities.
Among traditional Republicans, the gap between assessments of private and public universities is even larger. For example, over 40 percent of traditional Republicans have confidence in public universities, but that number drops to just 16 percent for private institutions.
“Americans broadly believe in the value of a college education, but our poll shows more nuanced views about colleges themselves and the policies being proposed,” said Josh Clinton, co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “There’s strong support for higher education’s mission but also concern about how public and private institutions are performing and the government’s role in higher education.”
Sentiment about the president’s handling of higher education is profoundly polarized. Overall, 61 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Trump has approached issues related to colleges and universities. When broken down by political identification, 77 percent of Republicans approve of his actions, while only 28 percent of Independents and 8 percent of Democrats approve. Even so, there are important splits among Republican-aligned respondents: 86 percent of the MAGA supporters support Trump’s actions toward higher education, compared with only 56 percent of traditional Republicans.
International Students Garner Public Support, Though Republicans Are Divided
Though immigration is a focal point for the Trump administration, poll respondents’ opinions about policies concerning foreign students at colleges and universities are more nuanced and somewhat less polarized than their overall views about immigration.
Monitoring Social Media: When it comes to monitoring the social media activity of current and prospective foreign students, 33 percent of respondents are strongly or somewhat in favor, while 40 percent somewhat or strongly oppose it. (The remaining 26 percent are neutral.) Support is highest among Republicans — 53 percent favor overall. But the MAGA/traditional divide is reflected in the results: 62 percent of MAGA respondents support government monitoring, and 41 percent of traditional Republicans express support.
International Enrollment: The poll reveals strong public opposition to the president of the United States determining whether colleges and universities can enroll foreign students. A substantial majority, 61 percent, oppose this idea, and 17 percent are undecided. Eighty-nine percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Independents expressly oppose such authority.
Only 22 percent of the overall public believes the president should have the authority to determine if colleges and universities can enroll foreign students. Among Republicans, 60 percent of MAGA voters support the policy, while only 22 percent of traditional Republicans do.
Green Cards: Though 59 percent of overall respondents appear to be in favor of awarding Green Cards to foreign students who graduate from American universities so they can work in the United States after they graduate, only 39 percent of Republicans support this concept. Interestingly, support for Green Cards for graduates showed division among age groups. Seventy-six percent of young Americans (aged 18–29) favor the policy, compared with 55 percent of those older than 65.
“The fact that the younger generation, which is in direct competition in the job market with these foreign graduates, is more supportive of them staying in the country to work speaks to a generational mindset that warrants further exploration,” Clinton said.
The Due Process-Deportation Divide
While the survey was being conducted, the Trump administration ramped up deportations of undocumented migrants, triggering protests in Los Angeles and other cities across the country.
“It is unclear if or how the events that transpired while the survey was conducted might have impacted opinions about due process and deportation,” Geer said. “What we have now is a snapshot of that moment in time, but we want to avoid any hasty conclusions about what these data tell us.”
Public opinion around deporting individuals who are in the United States illegally “back to their home countries” is reasonably high, with 51 percent either strongly supporting or somewhat supporting the idea. Among Republicans, this general support is higher, reaching 80 percent.
Overall, public opinion significantly shifts when the question specifies deportation “without a formal hearing before a judge in an immigration court.” Specifically, support for this measure drops to 39 percent, and 46 percent somewhat or strongly oppose. This indicates that a notable portion of the public, even those who support general deportation, are less comfortable with the idea of bypassing formal legal hearings. However, the proportion of Republicans who support deportation “without a formal hearing” remains high at 75 percent. By contrast, only 33 percent of Independents and 11 percent of Democrats support deportation without a formal hearing.
As court rulings have frequently stayed or revoked Trump administration policies around deportation and other issues, the survey also inquired whether respondents feel the president should be required to follow those rulings. An overwhelming 83 percent feel that he should, even if he disagrees with them. Even among Republicans, 80 percent of traditional GOP respondents and 60 percent of MAGA supporters believe the president should adhere to court rulings.
The Economy Under President Trump
As perception is often reality, the Unity Poll set out to determine how respondents feel about their financial situation.
Roughly half (49 percent) feel their personal financial situation today is about the same as it was a year ago. The other half is nearly evenly split between feeling better and feeling worse.
These results undersell the concern many Americans express about the future. Fifty percent state that the level of economic uncertainty they face today is worse than a year ago, while 35 percent think it is about the same and only 15 percent say it has improved.
Nearly 60 percent think that Trump’s tariff policies will make their personal finances worse, while only 14 percent believe they will make their finances better.
Opinions about recent instability in the stock market are evenly divided: One-third are extremely or very concerned, one-third are somewhat concerned, and one-third are not too, or not at all, concerned.
Additional Highlights
- General interest in politics is low, with only 11 percent selecting it as the topic in which they are most interested. Health and wellness had the highest level of interest at 25 percent.
- Twenty-nine percent think AI will make their and their families’ lives much or somewhat better, 36 percent think it will make life somewhat or much worse, and 34 percent think it will not make much difference.
- Thirty-five percent of Republicans are enthusiastic about the actions the Trump administration has taken so far this term, and 31 percent are satisfied but not enthusiastic. Among Democrats, 68 percent are angry, and 21 percent are dissatisfied but not angry.
- Among those who are interested in politics, MAGA supporters have the highest representation.
- Sixteen percent of the MAGA group cite politics as their top interest.
- Twelve percent of Democrats indicate politics as a top interest.
- Traditional Republicans exhibit the lowest interest in politics, with only six percent listing it as their top interest.
About The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy
The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy is a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to generating, curating and disseminating evidence-based knowledge about how to heal societal divisions. The project aims to replace contempt and polarization with respect and collaboration, strengthening the core of American democracy by bringing together leading scholars, political leaders and practitioners. The project is committed to rigorous research and its practical application to empower individuals and communities to bridge divides. More at vanderbilt.edu/unity.
