Betsy DeVos confirmation hearing in January 2017 made her a universal punchline. When asked about her thoughts on guns in school, she famously pointed to the need to protect students from grizzly bears. When asked about her opinions on exams that measure proficiency versus those that measure growth, she could barely stammer out an answer. In a Republican-majority Senate, the billionaire mega-donor was barely confirmed to her position, a humiliating turn that required Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Two years later, DeVos remains among the least popular Cabinet members in a historically unpopular administration. Yet, somehow, even as her peers dropped like flies former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson the education secretary has remained standing.

HuffPost spoke with over a dozen people about DeVos longevity, including former colleagues at the Department of Education, former co-workers in the advocacy space, and several political opponents who continue to root for her downfall.

For the most part, despite her wild unpopularity, they chalk up DeVos success to President Donald Trumps relative disinterest in education, her comparative lack of ethical conflicts and scandal, and her connections to the evangelical community, a group that serves as an important voting bloc for the president.

But they also point to her wholehearted belief in the righteousness of her agenda and persistence in seeing it through. Many of both her supporters and opponents say theyre not surprised shes lasted this long, describing her in similar terms determined, dedicated, resolute though vehemently disagreeing on what these traits mean for students.

Her boosters and detractors seem to agree: Whether people hate or love what shes doing, shes doing it because she truly believes in it.