, Columnist
Conservatives Are Souring on Colleges. Blame Colleges.
No wonder the right distrusts academia. It has turned downright hostile to conservatism.
Victory at Missou?
Photographer: Michael B. Thomas/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Despite decades of talk radio hosts complaining about pointy-headed liberal academics, Republicans in 2010 were still pretty fond of higher education. Fifty-eight percent of them said that colleges had a positive effect on the country, a number that ticked along in roughly that range in 2011 … 2012 … 2013 …2014 … then, whoa. It started to go off the cliff, hitting a mere 36 percent in Pew’s most recent poll.
Looking at this poll, Philip Bump of the Washington Post blames this on the focus “by conservative media on tensions at universities."
