The public’s trust in science and scientists is on the rise, both around the world and in the United States, according to a pair of multinational surveys. The importance of science and scientists in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be a plausible explanation.
The 3M State of Science Index conducted surveys in fall 2019 and summer 2020. In the fall 2019 survey, 85 percent of respondents somewhat (60 percent) or completely (25 percent) agreed that they trust science, and 80 percent of respondents somewhat (61 percent) or completely (19 percent) agreed that they trust scientists. In the summer 2020 survey, 90 percent of respondents somewhat (61 percent) or completely (29 percent) agreed that they trust science, and 86 percent of respondents somewhat (63 percent) or completely (23 percent) agreed that they trust scientists. (These data are for the eleven countries represented in both surveys.)
The same increase in trust was evident, but not as substantial, in the United States in particular. In the fall 2019 3M survey, 86 percent of U.S. respondents somewhat (57 percent) or completely (29 percent) agreed that they trust science, and 83 percent of U.S. respondents somewhat (60 percent) or completely (23 percent) agreed that they trust scientists. In the summer 2020 survey, 88 percent of U.S. respondents somewhat (52 percent) or completely (36 percent) agreed that they trust science, and 84 percent of U.S. respondents somewhat (54 percent) or completely (30 percent) agreed that they trust scientists. The rises in complete agreement, though not the rises in overall agreement, are statistically significant.
Wellcome Global Monitor conducted a survey throughout
2018 (discussed in the September/October 2019 SI) and
again in late 2020 and early 2021. In the 2018 survey,
76 percent of respondents agreed that they trusted
science a lot (32 percent) or some (45 percent), and 74
percent of respondents agreed that they trusted
scientists in their country a lot (34 percent) or some
(41 percent). In the 2020–2021 survey, 80 percent of
respondents agreed that they trusted science a lot (41
percent) or some (39 percent), and 76 percent of
respondents agreed that they trusted scientists in their
country a lot (43 percent) or some (34 percent). (These
data are for the 113 countries represented in both
surveys; sums are not exact due to rounding.)
As with the 3M surveys, the Wellcome surveys showed a similar but not as substantial increase in the United States in particular. In the 2018 Wellcome survey, 88 percent of U.S. respondents trusted science a lot (51 percent) or some (37 percent), and 86 percent of U.S. respondents trusted scientists a lot (43 percent) or some (43 percent). In the 2020–2021 survey, 89 percent of U.S. respondents trusted science a lot (55 percent) or some (34 percent), and 90 percent of U.S. respondents trusted scientists a lot (54 percent) or some (36 percent). The rises in a lot of trust, though not the rises in overall trust, are statistically significant.
In each pair of surveys, the earlier survey was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic began and the later survey was conducted after. The organizations sponsoring these surveys both drew the obvious conclusion, with the 3M State of Science Index observing, “Against the backdrop of COVID-19 … trust in science climbed to 89%, the highest since the State of Science Index began,” and the Wellcome Global Monitor remarking, “Increased exposure to science and scientists as a result of the pandemic may have influenced public opinion in many countries. Globally, people were more likely to express a high degree of trust in science and scientists in 2020 than they were in 2018.”
What remains to be seen, of course, is to what extent these increases in the public trust in science and scientists will endure, both in the short term as the world continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic and in the long term when, hopefully, it is a fading memory.