A new Gallup survey documents a significant decline in the trust of science among Republicans over the past four decades, a downward trend matched by religious conservatives’ embrace of creationism and rejection of climate change. And all this has been accelerated by the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic, masking and vaccines.
When asked to rate their confidence in science in 1975, Republicans (72%) were slightly more likely than Democrats (67%) to have either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in science.
“Compared with that earlier survey, Republican confidence in science has fallen 27 percentage points, and independents have dropped eight points, while Democrats’ confidence has increased by 12 points,” Gallup said in its most recent “Confidence in Institutions” survey, conducted June 1 to July 5.
The poll has tracked trust in numerous institutions since 1973, but the question about science has been asked only once before — in 1975.
The 2021 report found that 64% of U.S. adults have either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in science, compared to 70% in the mid-70s.
“Confidence in science is among the highest of the 17 institutions tested in the 2021 survey, behind small business (70%) and the military (69%),” according to the survey report.
However, Republicans now appear well out of step with the rest of the nation, dropping from 72% to 45% trusting science in that time period, while trust in science among independents decreased from 73% to 65%. During the same period, Democrats’ confidence in science jumped from 67% to 79%.
“Americans as a whole remain confident in science, but compared with the mid-1970s, a large partisan gap has emerged,” the Gallup report said. “It appears that science, like many other issues, has become a politicized topic.”
The “other issues” contributing to that politicization include abortion, immigration, gun control, health care, education, the death penalty, global warming, the media and support for Israel, Gallup said in citing a previous survey.
Conservatives’ suspicion of science also may be traceable to their misgivings about institutions of higher learning, Gallup said. “Republican mistrust may stem from conservative thought leaders’ allegations of liberal bias in the scientific community, perhaps because colleges and universities employ many scientists. Republicans also mistrust colleges and universities and cite a liberal political agenda as the reason for that lack of trust.”
The conservative rejection of science has been evidenced not only in the ongoing pandemic but previously in longstanding debates over the world’s climate crisis and the teaching of evolution.
The conservative rejection of science has been evidenced not only in the ongoing pandemic but previously in longstanding debates over the world’s climate crisis and the teaching of evolution.
“The disputes over the coronavirus come as Republicans express doubts about the scientific consensus on climate change, something Democrats widely accept,” Gallup noted. “Historically, Republicans have also been more likely than Democrats to say creationism rather than evolutionary theory explains the origin of human beings.”
But it is primarily in the rancorous, politically motivated debate over the causes of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that Republican mistrust of science is most visibly displayed.
“Republican political leaders’ statements and policies have been critical of COVID-19 guidance put forth by health experts, and GOP leaders have often resisted requiring citizens to follow mitigation strategies,” Gallup said. “One real-world manifestation of Republicans’ lack of faith in science is the greater reluctance among Republicans than Democrats to get COVID-19 vaccines.”
As a result, the states hit hardest by the ongoing surge of the Delta variant are Republican-led and boasting the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, a development that has led some conservatives to reconsider.
“Lagging vaccination rates in conservative-leaning states have caused some Republican governors, such as Jim Justice of West Virginia and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, to urge citizens of their states to get vaccinated before more contagious and, possibly, more deadly variants of the coronavirus spread to their states,” Gallup said.
And pandemic-denying evangelical churches, like that of California Pastor John MacArthur, have flaunted government bans on indoor gatherings and mask and social-distancing mandates, only to see outbreaks within their own congregations.
Religious conservatives may be in for more dire consequences if they continue to heed anti-science politicians and pundits, Gallup predicted. “Republicans’ lack of trust in science opens up the possibility of their being more vulnerable to influence by ideas that lack scientific support, especially if those ideas are advanced by political conservatives they implicitly trust.”
It is also clear that the disparities in perspectives of science increasing the divide between Americans as the “current 34-point party gap in confidence in science is among the largest Gallup measured for any of the institutions in this year’s poll, exceeded only by a 49-point party divide in ratings of the presidency and 45 points in ratings of the police.”
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