Few Republicans in new survey say they have high confidence in scientists

Republicans have lower confidence than Democrats in scientists' ability to act in the public’s best interest and tend to think they should stay out of policy debates, according to a new Pew Research survey. 

Around 9 in 10 Democrats have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists, the survey found, while less than two-thirds of Republicans, 63 percent, reported the same.  

And while 41 percent of Democrats have a “great deal” of confidence, just 15 percent of GOP respondents have the same strong trust.  

Thirty-six percent of Republicans have little or no confidence in scientists. Among Democrats, just 10 percent had the same misgivings.  

When it comes to whether scientists should weigh in on public policy debates about scientific issues, 70 percent of Republicans think scientists should “focus on establishing sound scientific facts” rather than step into the discussion.  

By contrast, 66 percent of Democrats think scientists should take an active role in policy debates.  

Democrats generally think scientists are better than politicians and other people at making policy decisions when they relate to scientific matters, an idea that polls at 55 percent among the demographic.  

More Republicans than Democrats think scientists are usually worse at those policy decisions — 17 percent to 5 percent — but the biggest share of Republicans report thinking that scientists are neither better nor worse at the calls, at 58 percent.  

Thirty-nine percent of Republicans think scientists already have “about the right amount” of influence over the policy debates, and 36 percent think they have too much.  

Democrats, on the other hand, overwhelmingly think scientists don’t have enough sway over the debates, at 64 percent. 

Democrats’ confidence in scientists has stayed relatively stable over the last five years, with confidence levels hovering around 90 percent and lack of confidence hovering around 10 percent since late 2018.  

Republicans appeared to lose confidence starkly in 2020, the year the coronavirus pandemic began, with an 85 percent confidence in April of that year dropping to 77 percent by November, and falling to 63 percent by late 2021. 

The poll's findings are consistent with other results indicating a partisan split in Americans' trust in science and medicine, notably widening after the start of the pandemic.

The Pew Research survey of 10,588 U.S. adults was conducted Sept. 13-18 and had a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points. The party groupings also include independents who lean Democratic or independents who lean Republican.