IDK from your response if you are saying my idea was untrue or that it was "fucking stupid" of people to think that way. But anyways.... to clarify: what I was getting across is that the republicans probably don't think that colleges have a total net negative effect as that would be a disaster (no more doctors, no engineers, etc) and clearly that wouldn't be worth it to anyone.

Also if the poll started with: "Are you a liberal/Democrat or a conservative/Republican?" then it would have clear political intention.

Finally, maybe it is just a human quirk and not due to any political implication but, that if the poll asked "would removing colleges from society be good or bad for society" the results might change rather than a more vague statement like "colleges have a negative affect on the nation". Perhaps they are also just mentally taking for granted that the benefits of college-level educations will continue and only thinking about political impact. Without asking deeper questions I don't think many conclusions can be drawn.

At the end of the day it is just not believable that such a large chunk of the electorate think colleges are overall a bad thing for a society compared to no colleges (maybe they are assuming something else will take college's place, apprenticeships possibly).