Science Trust Among US Citizens Grows Partisan

The most recent survey results from the Pew Research Center on Americans' perceptions of science and scientists were revealed on Tuesday. On the most fundamental level, they observe a decline in public support for scientists after the pandemic's peak in 2020. But as always, when the numbers are closely scrutinized, the scenario becomes more complicated. Almost every profession had a decline in confidence over that time period, but for scientists, this mostly signifies a return to pre-pandemic popularity. With Republicans feeling particularly strongly in this regard, the exception is that practically everyone is less inclined to agree that scientists should participate in governmental choices. The good tidings There should be trends in the data because the Pew surveys have a sizable sample size of more than 10,000 participants and have been conducted for a sufficient amount of time (six years for certain items). Additionally, the outcomes have generally been favorable for scientists: One of the most well-respected organizations in the US is science, and science is generally supported. The most recent survey has had no impact on that overall picture. Medical scientists had the highest ratings from participants when it came to their ability to act in the public's best interest, with 80% of them expressing a "great deal" or "good amount" of confidence in them. With 77 percent, the military and scientists as a whole tied for second place. No other group had a percentage exceeding 70%. This confidence resulted in significant support for science in general. More than 80% of the participants agreed that society benefits from investments in research, and a comparable percentage thought it was critical for the US to be a leader in science globally. Therefore, any potential drawbacks in the specifics are occurring against a backdrop of strong public support for the scientific enterprise and the individuals involved in it. The top graph demonstrates a return to 2016 levels for public trust in scientists in the US. The lower graph demonstrates that scientists continue to be one of society's most dependable groups. Now, regarding those drawbacks... One is that, according to a study conducted in 2020, public confidence in scientists had been rising and had reached its high in the early stages of the epidemic, when only 13% of respondents stated they lacked such confidence. By 2021, nearly twice as many people (22%) expressed a lack of faith in scientists; this number has remained relatively stable (23%) in the most recent study. There are a few pertinent context clues there. One is that the level of distrust is the same as it was in 2016. Furthermore, compared to 2016, when only 21% of the public stated they had a lot of confidence in scientists, that percentage has increased to 28% in the most recent survey. The fact that trust seems to have fallen off a cliff since 2020 is another crucial context clue. During this time, a greater number of citizens expressed mistrust of the military. The same is true for the police, church leaders, school officials, and corporate executives.