Conservative Americans consistently distrust science, survey finds. The gap was particularly large for climate scientists, medical researchers and social scientists. “This is likely because findings in these fields often conflict with conservative beliefs”

https://phys.org/news/2025-04-americans-distrust-science-survey.html

by The_Weekend_Baker

11 comments

  1. >Extreme things are happening in America right now. But even here in the Netherlands we are seeing unprecedented discussions being held around science, sometimes accompanied by significant distrust.

    The above should be noted in our current emotional climate that distrust isn’t just a US thing.

  2. Through World War II and the early years of the Cold War scientists were considered American heroes. Right up through the lunar landings and into the 70s.

    Then tobacco companies looked to outfits like heartland Institute to concoct a campaign to undermine scientists linking smoking and cancer.

    This had a lot to do with heartland Institute launch and of course they are one of the if not primary authors of project 2025

  5. The US will become a back water and China will replace it as the world’s economic power, as Christian nationalist kill science and research and development.

  6. People are scared of death and its finality. Empirical evidence of science sits on the side opposite to the belief of an afterlife. Folks want to believe their pets, loved ones, and they will continue on in some type of heaven after death.

    Moreover there’s the idea that bad people will roast in some type of hell. Which is an injustice wrought by waiting for some deity to dole out punishment instead of handling it like decent human beings.

  7. I don’t see how there can be any honest skepticism of climate science, its basically observational and modeling based. People are “skeptical” because they were told by conservative media aka the oil lobby to distrust it.

    The real question I have is why people aren’t more skeptical of whatever nonsense they heard on talk radio or Fox news. I’m skeptical of all sources.

  9. If you don’t believe in science you shouldn’t get the benefits of it. Give us those phones and that internet back. Science made your car and your medication. You don’t believe in that stuff, stop using it.

  10. But also consistently trust degenerate idiots like Trump, Bannon, RFK, weirdo Musk.

  11. And we will all end up dead because of these narrow minded idiots who can’t learn anything new about the world. They are so clueless they don’t understand that *science* is the reason we make any progress at all as a species. They’ll all be clinging to their bibles as the planet gets incinerated hoping to be “saved” …

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