Public confidence in scientists up slightly; public increasingly not satisfied with how scientists communicate

About three-quarters of Americans (76%) say they have either a great deal (26%) or a fair amount (51%) of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public, according to a new Pew Research Center report. These ratings are a slight improvement over the results of a similar Pew survey in 2023 when 73% said they had either a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in scientists, and represent a halt in decline in scientists' public image seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. (SSTI covered that survey here.)

Pew based the new report on a survey of 9,593 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 21-27, 2024.

The survey also asked how active scientists should be in debates on scientific issues. The responses were close to 50-50: 51% said scientists should take an active role in public policy debates about scientific issues, while 48% said they should establish scientific facts but leave the discussion to others. As for the current state of involvement, 41% said scientists do not have enough influence in policy debates, 37% said they have about the right amount of involvement, and 20% said they have too much involvement in policymaking.

When scientists make policy decisions, the survey respondents give them little credit for making good-quality decisions. Only 43% regard scientists' policy decisions as better than non-scientists' decisions. Forty-six percent said scientists' decisions were the same as anyone else's. Ten percent thought that scientists make worse decisions than non-scientists.

Those who more strongly support scientists playing an active role in policymaking are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. Two-thirds of Democrats said scientists should be active in policy debates on scientific issues, and 61% said scientists don’t have enough influence in shaping policy. A significant majority of Republicans (64%) said scientists should stay out of the debate, concentrating on establishing scientific facts instead. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say scientists have too much rather than not enough policy influence (34% vs. 22%).

Notably, the significant partisan gap between levels of confidence expressed by Democrats and Republicans narrowed slightly. Democrats still have more confidence in scientists than Republicans (88% vs. 66%), but the number for Republicans has risen by five percentage points since last year. This increase in confidence in scientists was the first uptick among Republicans since the start of the pandemic.

The survey shows that the most significant area of relative weakness for scientists, in the eyes of the public, is their communication skills. The Pew researchers found that fewer than half (45%) describe research scientists as good communicators, 9 points lower than the share who said this in 2019. And on this quality, both political parties are lukewarm. Slightly more than half of Democrats (54%) view research scientists as good communicators; 44% do not. Republicans are even more critical of this quality: only 37% of Republicans viewed research scientists as good communicators.

This article was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.