A growing number of Americans no longer have any faith or trust in the country’s institutes of higher education.

On Tuesday, Gallup published the results of a poll revealing that only 17% of Americans expressed “a great deal” of confidence in their universities, while 19% indicated having “quite a lot” of confidence. In contrast, 40% stated having “some” confidence, while 22% reported having “very little” confidence in their universities.

Since 2015, there has been a consistent decline in Americans’ trust in educational institutions, as indicated by the poll. In 2015, 57% of Americans expressed confidence in their colleges and universities. However, by 2018, this figure had dropped to 48%, reflecting a notable decrease in overall faith in educational institutions.

The Gallup poll is in line with a broader pattern of diminishing trust among Americans in various institutions. A recent Fox News poll conducted in late June revealed a continuous decline in confidence in U.S. institutions, including the FBI, Supreme Court, and Congress, since 2017, reaching record lows in some cases. Less than a third of voters expressed trust in the federal government, marking a two-decade low in public confidence.

“The Supreme Court has taken the biggest hit, falling below 50% for the first time since the question was originally asked in 2014, when 69% were confident. This erosion is across the political spectrum, with the Supreme Court down 48 points among Democrats, 21 among Republicans, and 37 among independents, since 2017,” Fox News reported.

In September 2022, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears warned that education is the top issue for her state and the country heading into the November elections.

“People who look like me say it’s about time we have that same ability as everybody else because the other side, unfortunately, is using education as a political weapon. But, as a parent, there’s only one question: is my child learning? That’s it. Full stop. Is my child learning, because with a good education, my child will have a future, will have a hope, will be able to create generational wealth,” Sears said.

She also said she believes that fighting for school choice has become the modern-day equivalent of the “Brown vs. Board of Education” issue among black and minority families.

“This, to me, is the new fight in the Brown vs. Board of Education. Because what was that about? That was about a parent’s ability to choose the best school for the child,” Sears continued. “And here we are, 50-something years later, and we’re still making that request. Actually, we’re not requesting it anymore. We’re going to get it. The Democrats are not going to keep using this as a wedge to drive us against each other.”

“The teachers just want to teach. They don’t want to be part of the social this and social that. They just want to teach and leave the political stuff out of it. That is what they’re trying to do. Yes, we do have teachers who do take it upon themselves to do other things, but, for the majority, they just want to teach,” Sears told Gowdy.