The survey, released today by the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, found that the proportion of those polled who believe that scientists act in the best interests of the public rose from 73% a year ago to 76% now. That's still lower than the 87% who trusted scientists in April 2020, shortly after lockdowns began. But it marks a new shift 'away from the declines in trust in science that we saw during the pandemic', says Alec Tyson.
'There is no data to support the argument for a general crisis of trust in science,' says Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She adds that the Pew results are 'very reassuring for the scientific community'.
Some scientists fear that the 5 November re-election of Donald Trump, who has dismissed climate change and disparaged federal scientists, to the US presidency will erode public trust in science - and might signal a rift between scientists and some factions of the US public.
Researchers don't yet know how political change affects public opinion towards scientists, says Niels Mede, a science-communication researcher at University of Zurich in Switzerland. This uncertainty about political dynamics may continue to challenge the relationship between science and public trust.
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