Guys, we don’t know how to break this to you, but trust in science is declining (along with ‘adjacent’ fields like media and higher ed.
Shocking, we know.
Trust in science is declining. Same for adjacent institutions (higher ed, media). I guess it’s hard to link it to any one event (like it’s hard to attribute any one weather event to climate change). But these things have a cumulative effect.https://t.co/RNQfvqRjLA https://t.co/AfyNYLN1Ff
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 7, 2023
From Pew Research:
When it comes to the standing of scientists, 73% of U.S. adults have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests. But trust in scientists is 14 points lower than it was at the early stages of the pandemic.
The share expressing the strongest level of trust in scientists – saying they have a great deal of confidence in them – has fallen from 39% in 2020 to 23% today.
As trust in scientists has fallen, distrust has grown: Roughly a quarter of Americans (27%) now say they have not too much or no confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests, up from 12% in April 2020.
Gee…what happened in April 2020 that…
Read the full article here