It’s arguable that, of all the items in Gallup’s annual Confidence in Institutions survey, higher education is the institution on the list that has endured the greatest number of destabilizing shocks in recent years.

As a new school year has begun, confidence in higher education is at a low point -- but new data from Gallup and Lumina Foundation paint a more detailed picture of why this is. And what are experts in the field doing to restore confidence?

Read Gallup’s latest update on confidence in higher education: U.S. Confidence in Higher Education Now Closely Divided

Learn more about Gallup’s research with Lumina Foundation: ​Gallup-Lumina State of Higher Education

This week’s guests include:
Stephanie Marken, Senior Partner, Education Division at Gallup
Courtney Brown, Vice President of Impact and Planning at Lumina Foundation
Zach Hrynowski, Senior Research Consultant at Gallup
Lee Strang, Director of The University of Toledo Institute of Constitutional Thought and Leadership

The top 10 happiest countries in the world are largely the same as the top 10 recorded before the pandemic, but key shifts are taking place -- including Germany and the U.S. dropping out of the top 20 for the first time. The latest World Happiness Report sheds new light on how people’s life satisfaction ratings vary substantially between the world’s young and old. John Helliwell, professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia, and Lara Aknin, professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, join the podcast to discuss key changes in India, a growing global inequality of happiness and how wellbeing can serve as a protective factor against dementia.

How do residents of member states of NATO view the alliance’s leadership? And what factors drive these views? Zacc Ritter, project director and advanced data analyst at Gallup, joins the podcast to discuss soft power, the crossroads NATO finds itself at, and a new analysis of attitudes of NATO member states.

The Gallup Center on Black Voices has collected more than 130,000 survey responses since it launched in 2020. Camille Lloyd, director of the Center, joins the podcast to discuss its recent findings across the Center’s six pillars of research. With the Black History Month 2024 theme of “African Americans and the Arts,” how many Americans are knowledgeable about Black cultural influences?

What makes for a flourishing life? A five-year longitudinal data collection and research collaboration measures global human flourishing across six areas: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and material and financial stability. Dr. Tyler J. VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology at Harvard University and director of the Human Flourishing Program, and Byron Johnson, director of the Institute for Studies of Religion and distinguished professor of the social sciences at Baylor University, join the podcast to discuss The Global Flourishing Study.

Historically, incumbent presidents with approval ratings of 50% or higher have won reelection, and presidents with approval ratings much lower than 50% have lost. What does this mean for Joe Biden -- and how does his rating stack up against previous incumbents who have run for reelection? Lydia Saad, Gallup’s director of U.S. social research, joins the podcast to discuss Americans’ views on whether Biden’s deserves to be reelected, as well as the favorable ratings of Biden and Donald Trump. She also offers a sneak peek at upcoming data on the reasons Americans give behind their approval and disapproval of Biden’s performance.

The challenges posed by climate change will fall disproportionately on the world’s youth -- but how well do they understand the challenges they face? What are their perspectives on climate change, and where are they getting their information? Moira Herbst, special projects editor at UNICEF Innocenti, and Nahjae Nunes, a UNICEF Youth Foresight Fellow, join the podcast to discuss the latest findings from the UNICEF-Gallup Changing Childhood survey.

The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index is one of the most comprehensive initiatives measuring the state of health for 97% of the world’s women and girls. Though the pandemic may be over, the Index reveals that women’s health is no better now than it was at the height of it -- and in some cases, women’s health is now worse. Laura Gillespie, vice president for Women's Health Initiatives at Hologic, joins the podcast to discuss women’s testing for deadly diseases, their emotional health and their experiences across the world. “The Index findings make it exceedingly clear that it’s time for world leaders to take a bolder stand for women and girls,” Gillespie says. “Women are the backbone of families, the backbone of communities and economies -- and investing in women’s health benefits all of us.”

Despite a substantial need within the U.S. foster care system, most Americans are unaware of whether they are eligible to adopt. And while Black Americans are the most likely to already know they are eligible and are more likely to indicate interest in foster care and adoption, they are also more critical of specific aspects of the system. A report from Gallup and Kidsave highlights the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans with foster care, gaps in public knowledge about the foster care system and the barriers that prevent many from providing care. Shantay Armstrong -- Strategic Communications Manager for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion -- joins the podcast to discuss Kidsave’s EMBRACE Project and the many ways in which Americans can support foster children.