Americans are broadly supportive of the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard University, and majorities even support the federal government taxing the endowments of wealthy universities.
Trump Vs. Harvard
This is according to a poll conducted by RMG Research and released by the Napolitan Institute on Wednesday.
The major exception to the broad-based support for restricting funds to Harvard and taxing their endowments was Americans with postgraduate degrees.
About 14% of Americans have postgraduate degrees and 24% have a bachelor’s degree or higher according to 2020 U.S. Census data.
The poll found that most Americans are in favor of restricting federal student loan money to universities with large endowments. Respondents were more evenly divided on the issues of revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status and providing federal research grants.
What the Polls Say
The poll found that just 36% of voters think universities with endowments over a billion dollars should be allowed to rely on the federal student loan program to help students pay for tuition. Of the poll respondents with postgraduate degrees, 52% say the schools should be able to rely on federal student loans.
Harvard currently has, according to some estimates, a $53.2 billion endowment. According to an investigative report covered by Fox News, the school in aggregate “has more than $7 million per undergraduate student.”
The Napolitan Institute poll found that Americans are roughly evenly divided on whether universities with sizable endowments should receive research grants or other kinds of federal funding. Of those asked, 40% said “yes,” 39% “no.” Those with only bachelor’s degrees were also evenly divided on the question and those without higher degrees were against the funding by a 42% to 36% margin. Two-thirds of those with postgraduate degrees said these schools should receive funding.
By a 45% to 34% margin, Americans support taxing schools with billion-dollar endowments. Fifty-one percent of those with bachelor’s degrees and 54% of those without were in favor of the tax while 52% of those with a postgraduate degree said the endowments shouldn’t be taxed.
Then senator, now Vice President J.D. Vance proposed in 2023 an excise tax of up to 35% of “net investment income of private educational institutions whose assets had an aggregate fair market value of at least $10 billion in the preceding taxable year.”
President Donald Trump has threatened Harvard University with pulling nearly $9 billion in federal grants over what the administration says are violations of civil rights law.
On April 11, the Department of Education sent Harvard a letter “demanding the school agree to a host of reforms, including adjusting and enforcing disciplinary processes, improving screening of international students for ‘hostile’ views, and auditing ‘programs with egregious records of antisemitism.’”
Harvard President Alan Garber responded by saying that the university would resist the executive branch’s demands.
Already, $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts have been frozen by the Trump administration.
The president even took his threats a step further, saying that his administration would consider ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status if they did not comply with demands to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and create more protections for students facing threats of antisemitism.
“Perhaps Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’ Remember, tax exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in mid-April.
The Napolitan poll found that Americans are evenly divided on the issue of revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, with 41% saying “yes” and 41% saying “no.”
Again, those with postgraduate degrees were more strongly in favor of Harvard. They said it should not be revoked by a 53% to 39% margin. Those with a bachelor’s as opposed to no degree were more supportive of ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status, with 45% approving the change and 39% opposing it.
About the Author:
Jarrett Stepman is a columnist for The Daily Signal where this first appeared. He is also the author of “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past.”
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