Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The share of Americans who trust scientists and believe science has had a mostly positive effect on society has fallen significantly over the past four years, a new Pew Research Center survey found.
The big picture: Trust in scientists declined during the pandemic, at a time when public health officials came under fire for business closures and vaccine and mask mandates meant to protect the public from COVID-19.
- While 73% of Americans have at least "a fair amount" of trust in scientists to "act in the best interests of the public," that's down from 86% in 2019.
- The share expressing a "great deal" of trust fell from 35% to 23% in that time, while the percentage with "not too much" trust in scientists or "none at all" climbed from 15% to 27%.
- At the same time, the share of Americans who believe science has had a mostly positive effect on society fell from 73% in 2019 to 57% in 2023.
Between the lines: The percentages expressing trust in scientists actually ticked up slightly in 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, but have steadily declined since.
- Pew has polled Americans on their trust in science at least once per year since 2019.
What they found: The distrust rose among both Democrats and Republicans, per the survey.
- It's particularly pronounced among Republicans, with 38% saying they have "not too much" or "no confidence at all" in scientists.
- That's up dramatically from the 14% of Republicans who held this view in April 2020, before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a large majority of Democrats (86%) continue to express at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists.
- Still, the share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents with a great deal of confidence in scientists — which initially rose in the pandemic's first year — now stands at 37%.
- That's down from a high of 55% in Nov. 2020.
Why it matters: People with greater trust in scientists are more likely to take expert guidance.
- For example, those with high trust are more likely to have gotten vaccines for COVID-19 and the flu, and are more likely to believe humans contribute to climate change.
- "The overall differences in partisan views remain much more pronounced today than they were prior to the coronavirus outbreak," the researchers concluded.
Details: The survey of 8,842 U.S. adults was conducted Sept. 25-Oct. 1.