A peer-reviewed study published by Cambridge University Press analyzed 1,044 party platforms from 1980 to 2025 and found that both Democrats and Republicans supported higher education in the 1980s and early 1990s, but Republican positions shifted sharply negative starting in the mid-1990s, with criticism evolving from academic freedom concerns to opposition to racial and gender/sexuality policies. Democratic platforms remained more stable while expressing increasing concern about college costs. This matters because it documents a structural realignment in American politics where higher education transformed from a bipartisan civic institution into a partisan flashpoint — a shift the researchers argue was driven by national party activists rather than grassroots pressure. The study suggests this polarization reflects the broader nationalization of local institutional politics in a two-party system.