Public Opinion Divided Over Role of Scientists in Policymaking

The U.S. public is split over what role, if any, scientists should play in policymaking, the latest Pew Research Center survey examining public trust in scientists reveals.

The survey, published earlier this month, asked roughly 9,000 U.S. adults how much confidence they have in scientists to act in the public’s best interest, as well as what role scientists should play in policy decisions. The survey revealed stark differences in how much trust Democrats and Republicans have in scientists.

Just over half of all survey respondents, 51%, said they want scientists to play an active role in policy debates about scientific issues, while 48% said they want scientists to focus on science and stay out of policy debates. The survey found that Democrats are largely in favor of scientists being involved in policy debates, while Republicans are largely against.

Asked if scientists are better or worse than other people at making policy decisions about scientific issues, 43% of survey respondents said they are usually better, while 46% said they were neither better nor worse, and 10% said they are usually worse. Again, opinions between Republicans and Democrats differed, with 58% of Democrats saying that scientists are better than others at making decisions on scientific policy issues, compared to just 26% of Republicans. These numbers show little change from the results of similar questions asked in previous years.

While scientists are generally viewed positively by survey respondents when compared to, for example, business leaders and police officers, public trust took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling from 87% in April 2020 to 73% in October 2023. This year’s results show a “statistically significant” uptick, said Alec Tyson, associate director of research at Pew Research, during an online event reviewing the survey results, with 76% of the public stating they have either a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public.

Among Republicans and Democrats, a different trend emerges. Democrats have higher trust in scientists than Republicans, and those high levels of trust have remained relatively stable over the past few years, falling from 91% in April 2020 to 88% in October 2024. Among Republicans, trust in science has fallen more sharply, dropping from 85% in 2020 to 61% in 2023, but rising to 66% this year.

While the survey revealed many differences in opinion between Republicans and Democrats, there are also “some really interesting points of bipartisan agreement,” Tyson said. One of these is the shared belief that the U.S. ought to be a leader in scientific achievement. “Large shares of Republicans and Democrats believe that,” he said, adding that “while the size of the majorities differs somewhat, both Republicans and Democrats think that federal investments in basic academic research [are] worthwhile investments.”

Though scientists’ public image among US adults is largely positive, with the majority of survey respondents sharing that they believe scientists to be intelligent, focused on solving real-world problems, and honest, the public takes a dimmer view of scientists’ communication skills, with just 45% describing scientists as good communicators, and 47% saying that scientists appear to feel superior to others. That said, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to view scientists’ traits negatively, with 61% saying that scientists feel superior to others, compared to 32% of Democrats. Republicans also appear to view scientists’ traits more negatively now than they did in the past, with 52% saying that scientists are focused on solving real-world problems compared to 69% in 2019, for example.

Perceptions that scientists are poor communicators and feel superior to others “pain me to my core,” said Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, during the event discussing the survey results. “Humility is an absolute requirement for science communication,” said Parikh. “If you can’t be humbled about the fact that science is done by humans and we are all subject to all the fallibility and all the extraordinary talents that humans have, then you can’t relate.”