Widening partisan divide over scientists’ place in policy debates
Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand how Americans see science and their levels of trust in groups and institutions in society, including scientists and medical scientists. See the article : The New York Public Library is releasing 500,000 free books this summer. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,588 US adults from September 13-18, 2022.
All those who participated in the survey are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random samples of residential addresses. In this way, almost all American adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the adult population of the United States by sex, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about ATP’s methodology
Here are the questions used for this report, along with the answers, and their methodology.
Most Americans value government investments in scientific enterprise and consider it important for the United States to be a world leader in scientific achievement. However, in the wake of a global outbreak of coronavirus that puts scientific research and knowledge in the spotlight, few believe that the pace of scientific development in the United States exceeds that of other countries in the world. Only 14% think the United States is gaining ground on other countries in its scientific achievements. A larger share (38%) thinks that the United States is losing ground, and 47% say that it will stay in about the same place compared to other countries.
Republicans and Democrats express a common sense that the United States has largely failed to gain ground in global scientific progress. Recent congressional action has included provisions to address U.S. competitiveness in science and technology fields, including a bill that would provide tax incentives for the manufacturing of computer chips in the United States and additional money for the scientific and technological research in areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
But while partisans share concerns about the U.S.’s global standing in science, they differ in their views of the role of scientists in the policy arena, with Republicans offering far more skeptical views. than the Democrats. These differences over the public role for scientists are wider today than before the coronavirus outbreak, which has often found Republicans and Democrats at odds over questions related to science, including the health threat posed by coronavirus, the appropriate policy response to the outbreak and effectiveness. to wear masks and COVID-19 vaccines.
A majority of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents (70%) believe scientists should stay out of public policy debates and focus instead on establishing sound scientific facts. Republicans also express doubts about scientists’ judgment and decision-making: only 24% believe that scientific experts are generally better than others at making good political decisions on scientific issues.
Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party offer much more positive views of scientists’ policymaking abilities. Two-thirds of Democrats believe that scientists should take an active role in science policy debates, and 55% believe that scientists generally make better decisions about science policy issues than other people. Furthermore, 64% believe that scientists currently do not have enough influence in public policy debates.
The survey of 10,588 US adults conducted from September 13 to 18 finds that the public continues to hold scientists and medical scientists in high esteem compared to other prominent groups and institutions. Overall, 28% have a lot of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public, while another 49% say they have a good amount of confidence. The assessments of medical scientists are similar. For both groups, public views are almost the same as they were in December 2021.
Ratings of scientists and medical scientists continue to be more positive than those of a number of other groups and institutions, including police officers and K-12 public school principals. The public’s trust in elected officials to act in the public’s interests remains the lowest of the nine groups asked in the survey.
Trust in scientists differs in a number of traits and characteristics from the general public. Party affiliation is among the biggest factors, with Democrats expressing higher confidence than Republicans. But other factors such as race, ethnicity and education also play a role.
Most Democrats (89%) say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests, including 41% who say they have a great deal of confidence. In comparison, 63% of Republicans have at least a fair amount of trust in scientists (including only 15% who have a lot).
There are notable differences of opinion in the two groups of parties, especially when it comes to the democratic coalition. White Democrats (52%) are much more likely than Hispanics (26%) and Black Democrats (25%) to express strong trust in scientists, saying they have great confidence in them to act in their interests of the public. Democrats with a college degree are more likely than Democrats who didn’t graduate from college to say they have a lot of trust in scientists to act in the public’s interests (53% vs. 34%).
Differences in views within the GOP tend to be more modest than those among Democrats. However, there are notable differences, especially for political ideology: 45% of conservative Republicans say they have little or no trust in scientists; among moderate and liberal Republicans, significantly fewer (22%) express this low level of trust. Also, Republicans 50 and older have less trust in scientists than younger Republicans, especially those 18 to 29.
Confidence in scientists steady over past year, lower than early in the coronavirus outbreak
About three in ten Americans register the strongest level of trust in scientists to act in the interests of the public (28% a lot), while at least three quarters – 77% – have at least a good amount of trust in scientists. To see also : Arts council sees early concepts for new hotel in downtown Fayetteville. The remaining 23% have little or no confidence in scientists to act in the interests of the public.
Americans’ confidence in scientists has changed little since last year and remains below the high point expressed before the coronavirus outbreak. Public confidence has remained largely stable over the past year for other prominent groups and institutions, such as police officers and business leaders.
Public trust in medical scientists is similar to that of scientists in general. Eight in ten Americans have at least a fair amount of confidence in this group to act in the public’s interest, including 30% who have a great deal of confidence. (Half of the survey respondents were asked about their trust in “medical scientists” and the other half were asked about their trust in “scientists”).
Trust in the military is equal to that for medical scientists and scientists. The share of Americans with great confidence in the military is 4 percentage points by 2021. Public confidence in other groups and institutions asked in the survey is lower. Majorities in the United States have a negative view of journalists, business leaders and elected officials, according to trust ratings of these groups from last year. Only 28% of US adults say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in elected officials to act in the public’s interests, and 71% have little or no confidence in them to do so.
Trust in scientists remains higher among Democrats, especially those who are college graduates
Democrats continue to express more confidence than Republicans in scientists and medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public. Partisan differences on trust in scientists widened after the coronavirus outbreak, especially since December 2021, and have been stable since then.
In the new survey, 41% of Democrats and those leaning toward Democrats have a great deal of trust in scientists, although nearly all (89%) have at least a fair amount of trust in scientists. Only one in ten Democrats have a negative view of scientists.
A much smaller share of Republicans and Republicans express a strong level of trust in scientists (15%), although a majority (63%) express at least a fair amount of trust in scientists to act in their interests of the public. Another 36% have little or no trust in scientists.
Similarly, Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to express strong trust in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public. See Appendix for details.
Trust in scientists tends to be higher among college graduates than those with less education, consistent with past Center surveys.
However, such differences are mainly limited to Democrats and independents who lean Democratic. Among Republicans and GOPs, college graduates and those with less education are equally likely to have high trust in scientists (15% each).
Among Democrats with a college degree or more education, 53% have a lot of trust in scientists. In comparison, 34% of Democrats with some college or less education have a great deal of trust in scientists.
This data is in line with the idea that party affiliation offers a strong anchor point for people’s opinions and, in some cases, can overcome the tendency for those with higher education to express more support and trust in scientists. Past Center surveys have also found that levels of knowledge of education and science are closely linked with views on climate and energy issues among Democrats, but not Republicans.
There are also larger educational differences among Democrats than Republicans when it comes to levels of trust in medical scientists. See Appendix for details.
People who describe themselves as knowing a lot about what scientists do are more likely to have a high level of trust in scientists: 43% of this group have a lot of trust in scientists, compared to 26% who say know little and 14. % who say they know nothing about what scientists do.
Confidence in scientists remains lower among Black and Hispanic Democrats compared with White Democrats
Among the general public, levels of trust in scientists are similar among white, black, and Hispanic adults. These general similarities are driven in part by the partisan profiles of the three groups and the growing influence of partisanship on the evaluations of scientists. (A large majority of black adults identify or lean with the Democratic Party, as do about two-thirds of Hispanic adults; white adults are more evenly divided in their identification and leaning toward the GOP ).
The impact of race and ethnicity play out differently for Democrats and Republicans.
White Democrats (52%) are much more likely than Hispanics (26%) and Black Democrats (25%) to say they have a lot of trust in scientists to act in the public’s best interests.
Only 12% of White Republicans have a great deal of trust in scientists to act in the public’s interests (much lower than the 52% of White Democrats who say this).
The current survey does not have a sufficient sample size to analyze the views of Black Republicans or Hispanic Republicans. A 2021 poll by the Center found that 19% of Hispanics and 12% of White Republicans expressed the strongest level of trust in scientists.
There are similar differences by party, race, and ethnicity when it comes to trust in medical scientists. See Appendix for details.
Americans are about evenly divided over whether scientists should take an active role in policy debates
The public has mixed opinions about the degree to which scientists should participate in political debates on scientific issues and the impact that scientists have in such debates. To see also : Ministry of health announced May retail food inspection. The differences between Republicans and Democrats on these questions have widened since 2020.
Americans are now divided about whether scientists should take an active role in political debates on scientific issues (48%) or, instead, should focus on establishing scientific facts and stay out of political debates (51%).
The share of Americans who say scientists should play an active role in politics is down 12 percentage points since May 2020.
The shift in view is most pronounced among Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP. Among this group, seven in ten now say that scientists should stay out of political debates and focus on establishing sound scientific facts. Far fewer Republicans (29%) now say that scientists should take an active role in science policy debates, down from 43% in May 2020.
Democrats and Democratic Leaners leave with the position that scientists should have an active role in political debates, by a margin of 66% to 34%. The share of Democrats who say that scientists should take an active role in political debates has dropped from 75% in May 2020.
Partisans also tend to differ in their perception of the influence of scientists in political debates today.
Overall, 45% of Americans say scientists don’t have enough influence on politics, while 19% say scientists have too much influence. About a third say scientists have about the right amount of influence in political debates (35%).
More than six in ten Democrats (64%) believe that scientists do not have enough influence on politics today. In contrast, 36% of Republicans think scientists have too much influence in public policy debates, while a smaller share (24%) believe scientists have too little influence.
Democrats and Republicans continue to differ in views of scientists’ policy judgments
The survey also asked Americans to rate the quality of policy decisions of scientific experts on scientific issues. About four in ten Americans (41%) believe that scientific experts are generally better at making good political decisions than other people, 47% say that scientists are neither better nor worse and 10% say that scientists are generally they make worse decisions than other people.
The share of Americans who say that scientific experts are usually better than others at making good policy decisions is down 6 percentage points since May 2020 (from 47% to 41%).
Among Republicans, a majority say that scientific experts are no better or worse (58%) than other people at making good policy decisions. Only 24% of Republicans think scientists’ political judgments are generally better than those of others, while 17% say their judgments are generally worse.
In contrast, a majority of Democrats (55%) think that scientific experts are generally better than others at making policy decisions. The rest (38%) say that the judgments of scientists are neither better nor worse than those of other people and 5% say that the judgments of scientists are generally worse.
Americans are evenly divided about the role of the public voice in science policy issues. About half of US adults say that public opinion should play an important role in guiding political decisions on scientific issues (49%), and the same share (49%) say that public opinion should not.
The share of Americans who say that public opinion should have an important role in guiding political decisions on scientific issues has increased by 6 points since May 2020 – at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak – but since a high of 54% in 2019.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say that public opinion should play an important role (57% vs. 44%). The share of Republicans who say that public opinion should play an important role is 9 points as of May 2020.
Americans with more education are less likely to say that public opinion should play an important role in guiding political decisions on scientific issues. Four in ten adults with a graduate degree think that public opinion should play an important role, compared with 54% of American adults with a high school diploma or less education.
Most Americans see government investments in scientific research as worthwhile, but few see gains for U.S. achievements in science
Most Americans see the value for society from government investments in scientific research and consider it important that the United States is a world leader in scientific achievement. The predominant feeling, however, is that the United States is holding steady or losing ground in science compared to other countries.
About eight in ten Americans (81%) say that government investments in scientific research aimed at advancing knowledge are generally worthwhile for society over time, while only 18% say that investments by the government in basic scientific research are not worth the investment.
These figures are similar to those found for US adults in a 2019 Center survey conducted by telephone.
Almost all Democrats think that government investments in basic science research are worthwhile investments for society over time (92%), as are a large majority of Republicans (69%).
Most other demographic and educational groups say that government investments in scientific research pay off for society over time.
A large majority of Americans think being a world leader in science is important, but few see the U.S. gaining ground
When asked how important it is for the United States to be a world leader in scientific achievements, 54% of Americans say it is very important and 37% say it is somewhat important. Only 8% say it is not very or not important that the United States is a world leader in scientific achievement.
Older Americans, men and those with a university degree or more education are especially likely to consider it very important for the United States to be a world leader in scientific achievements.
But when asked to think about America’s place compared to other countries, only 14% of the public thinks that the United States is gaining ground in scientific achievements, while a larger share says that the States United are losers (38%). Nearly half (47%) say the United States ranks about the same when it comes to scientific achievement.
As is the case with the goal of being a world leader in science, assessments of where the United States stands in the world are widely divided among party, educational and demographic groups.
Larger parts of men and those with a postgraduate degree consider that the United States is losing ground in science compared to other countries. Republicans are slightly more inclined than Democrats to see the United States losing ground to other countries in scientific achievement (42% vs. 36%).
