Liberals, Conservatives and the Value of Higher Ed

A new poll by YouGov finds that both conservative and liberal Americans value higher education, but that they differ on their perspectives on the college experience. The poll, conducted after Rick Santorum made his campaign criticisms of academe, found that majorities of both conservatives and liberals believe that higher education is at least "somewhat important" to achieving financial success, but liberals are much more likely than are conservatives to see higher education as very important to such success. A similar pattern was found on the question of whether four years of college leaves a person better educated. Both liberals and conservatives believe that this is "somewhat" true, but liberals are much more likely than conservatives to believe that such a person is "much more educated."