Polarization increased, but across the political spectrum, trust rose faster than mistrust during his presidency
Then-President Donald Trump and the National Institutes of Health’s Anthony Fauci at a 2020 White House eventPublic trust in scientists rose in the United States during the presidency of Donald Trump, a new study finds, despite his repeated attacks on individual scientists and federal research agencies. The increase occurred across the political spectrum and more than offset a simultaneous rise in mistrust.
In getting off the fence, they appear to have migrated to either end of the continuum. The pool expressing low or very low trust in scientific expertise grew from 2% to 13%, whereas those holding science in high or very high regard jumped from 22% to 57%. The move toward the two ends of the spectrum makes perfect sense to Jennifer Hochschild, a Harvard University political scientist who studies motivational reasoning—the phenomenon in which people seek out information to confirm existing beliefs. The pandemic forced people out of their comfort zones, she argues, “because of the high cost of getting it wrong.”
Miller, who has been conducting surveys on what the public thinks about science and scientists for 5 decades, says it’s challenging to poll people in the U.S. on their views about science because most don’t pay much attention to the topic. “They may have never even met a scientist or understand what scientists do,” he notes. When pressed, people may mention a historical figure such as Albert Einstein rather than a contemporary scientist or topic, he adds.
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