Highlights from the CHE poll:

While Americans are clearly worried about college costs, one finding in the survey captures how conflicted they are about the issue. When asked if the federal government should have a role in controlling tuition at public and private colleges, the results were almost evenly split: 51 percent said yes, 49 percent no. …
At a time when the leading members of the Senate Finance Committee are focused on wealthy colleges’ use of their endowments, the issue seems to have little traction among most of the public. Only 18 percent of those surveyed said it was an “extremely important” issue for the next president, although Democrats rated it higher, at 25 percent. …
Despite the fact that nearly eight of 10 college students today attend public colleges, 41 percent of respondents say the quality of a higher education is better at a private institution. By seven points, 45 percent to 38 percent, respondents from households with incomes below $35,000 rated private colleges more highly than did respondents with household incomes of $35,000 to $75,000. …
In answer to another question on the poll, 46 percent of respondents said college professors were more liberal than they themselves were, compared with 25 percent who said they were about the same.