The coronavirus outbreak has underscored the prominent role that science news and information can play in public life, and there are signs that Americans are now paying more attention to science news.
More than half of American adults (56%) say they talk about science news with others at least a few times a month, including about a quarter (24%) who say they talk about science news at least a few times a week. The remaining 43% say they do so less often, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in December 2021.
Americans’ engagement with science news in daily discussion is higher than in a 2017 Center survey, when 44% said they talked about science news with others at least a few times a month.
Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ engagement with science news. The analysis is based on a Center survey of 14,497 American adults conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, 2021.
All who participated in the survey are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through a national, random sampling of residential addresses. Thus, almost all American adults have an opportunity to choose. The survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP methodology.
Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with answers, and its methodology.
The survey on which this post is based is made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which received support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Online, about half of US adult social media users (48%) say they have seen science content on social platforms in the past few weeks, while 33% go further and say they proactively follow a page or account that focuses on to science news The share of social media users who say they follow an account focused on science content is also higher than in 2017, when 26% said they did so.
Science can bring to mind a range of topics for people, including health and medicine, artificial intelligence and space exploration. In the 2021 survey, there is some variation in how often Americans talk about and follow accounts on specific science-related topics, including health and medicine, the coronavirus outbreak, and energy and the environment. (Read the line above for more details.)
Overall, three-quarters of Americans express some level of interest in following science news, according to the 2021 survey. About a quarter (27%) say they are very interested in science news, while another 48% say they are somewhat interested Public interest in science news exceeds interest in topics such as business and finance, as well as sports and entertainment, although it is below public interest in news about one’s local community. As expected, those who are very interested in science news in particular say they often talk about science news and, among social network users, follow science-related accounts on social media.
Interest in following science news is up modestly from 2017, with the proportion of adults who are at least somewhat interested 4 percent higher than then.
Education is one of the biggest factors behind interest and engagement with science news and information.
About four in ten post-graduates (41%) and 35% of college graduates say they are very interested in following science news, compared to 26% of those with some college experience and 19% of those with a high school diploma or less. .
Interest in science news also tends to be higher among men than women, as well as among those with higher than lower family incomes.
Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (33%) are more likely than Republicans and Republicans (20%) to say they are very interested in following science news. The share of Democrats who are very interested in following science news is 5 points higher than in 2017. Among Republicans, there was a modest increase in the proportion who are at least somewhat interested in following science news, but little change in the proportion who says they are. are very interested.
At a time when debates about science-related issues are often polarized along partisan lines, a large portion of Americans express frustration with the amount of partisanship surrounding science news.
About three-quarters (76%) of Americans say that when they follow science news, they feel frustrated that there is so much political disagreement in this area. In particular, this feeling of frustration is shared by identical shares of Republicans and Democrats (78% each). A separate poll by the Center this year found that partisan disagreement is also among the top factors that Americans believe have contributed to problems the country has faced in the coronavirus epidemic.
Reactions to scientific news also include positive feelings. Majorities of Americans say they felt amazed by scientific developments (58%), while the same share say they felt reassured that knowledge continues to be updated by following scientific news and information.
However, 57% of Americans express some level of confusion when it comes to science news, reporting that they feel it’s hard to know what to think with so much conflicting information. And half of Americans feel they should be keeping up with new scientific developments more than they currently do; about as many (48%) say they don’t feel that way.
College graduates and Democrats are more likely to report positive reactions to science news. Three-quarters of those with a college degree or more education say they have felt amazed by new developments, and 73% say they have found it reassuring to see that scientific knowledge is always up to date. In contrast, about half of those with some college or less education report any of these reactions. Democrats, meanwhile, are 20 points more likely than Republicans to report feeling amazed by scientific developments (68% vs. 48%) and 24 points more likely to feel reassured that scientific knowledge is always up to date (70% vs. 46%). .
Among those with higher and lower levels of education, similar actions say it can be difficult to know what to think because there is so much conflicting information in science news. But Republicans are far more likely than Democrats (70% vs. 47%) to say they’ve had this reaction following science news.
When it comes to understanding information about science, a majority of Americans (74%) say they can rely a lot (36%) or a little (38%) on information from scientific experts in this area. Friends and family are also high on the list of audiences they can turn to for science information: 55% say they can rely a lot or a little on science information from close friends and family. Fewer Americans (44%) say they can rely a lot or a little on information about science from journalists.
Among Internet users, about a third (35%) say they can rely on scientific information from online groups of people with common interests that they are a part of. Other potential sources are lower on the public’s list of whom they can rely on for scientific information.
Party affiliation is linked with views of the reliability of journalists and experts for scientific information.
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say they can trust at least some scientific information from journalists (63% vs. 23%). While majorities of both party groups say they can trust experts for information about science, a slightly larger share of Democrats than Republicans say so (82% vs. 66%).
These differences are consistent with gaps between Republicans and Democrats in overall levels of trust in journalists and in scientists. In contrast, when it comes to reliance on other sources for scientific information, such as close friends and family, Republicans and Democrats express largely similar views.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with answers, and its methodology.
Emily Saks is a research assistant focusing on science and society research at Pew Research Center.
Alec Tyson is associate director of research at Pew Research Center.
