Pew: The pandemic soured Americans’ confidence in scientists

(CN) — American adults’ confidence in scientists rose when the coronavirus emerged in the spring of 2020, but a new Pew Research Center survey indicates fewer U.S. adults are confident that scientists are acting in the public’s best interest than before the pandemic began.

When asked about medical scientists in particular in April 2020, soon after the Covid-19 pandemic swept the United States, 43% of the public had “a great deal” of confidence the medical scientists would act in the public’s best interest, and an additional 46% had “a fair amount” of confidence in the same. Just 11% of respondents claimed to have either “not too much confidence” or “no confidence at all.”

But when asked again, via online polls administered between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12, 2021, many respondents had changed their mind. This latest survey shows that just 29% of U.S. adults have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists, a difference of more than 25%. The share of skeptics doubled from the earlier 11% figure to 22% who agreed they had little or no confidence in medical scientists.

The researchers polled Americans about a range of institutions and groups: scientists broadly, medical scientists specifically, the military, police, journalists, business leaders, elected officials, religious leaders and public school principals.

Across the board, public trust in institutions is on the decline. Comparing results from a November 2020 survey to the current one, the 39% who had a great deal of confidence in the military lowered to 25%; trust in police officers dropped six points over the same year interval.

Elected officials were the lowest in the rankings: 24% of adults have at least a fair amount of confidence that elected officials are acting in the public’s best interest, but 76% have not too much confidence or none at all.

Journalists and business leaders are also poorly regarded: for both groups, four in every 10 Americans express at least a fair deal of confidence, while six in 10 have little confidence or none.

Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents remain the most bullish on scientists, with fully 90% of these adults having at least a fair amount of confidence in medical scientists. The strength of that confidence has been falling, however: 10% of the Democrat-leaning respondents who said their confidence was “great” dialed their enthusiasm to “fair.”

By contrast, 34% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents said they have little or no confidence in medical scientists to act in the public’s interest, more than three times the share of the 10% of Democrats who agree.

The share of Republicans with little trust in medical scientists nearly tripled compared to January 2019, well before the coronavirus pandemic began. Back then, just 12% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents said they had not too much confidence, or none at all, in medical scientists. When it came to scientists in general, just 14% of right-leaning respondents were skeptical; that share has increased to 36% in the latest poll.

Political affiliation is not the only notable indicator of respondents’ trust in institutions, however. Americans who have at least a college degree are more likely to view medical scientists, and scientists more broadly, with greater confidence.

To find these figures, the nonpartisan research organization asked 22,612 American adults to participate; 14,497 panelists responded to the online polls between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12, 2021. Results from the full sample are accurate plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

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