A new survey shows a decline in trust among American adults in scientists and other groups compared with just a year ago. 

According to a Pew Research Center study, the public’s trust in scientists and medical scientists is now below pre-pandemic levels.

The survey reveals — overall, 29% of U.S. adults said they have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public, down 40% from November 2020. 

Americans who said they have a great deal of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interest is down 10 percentage points, from 39% to 29%. 

“The new findings represent a shift in the recent trajectory of attitudes toward medical scientists and scientists,” the report said. 

“Public confidence in both groups had increased shortly after the start of the coronavirus outbreak, according to an April 2020 survey.”

According to the survey, current ratings of medical scientists and scientists have now fallen below where they were in January 2019. 

Other groups also saw a decline in trust

The share of Americans who said they have a great deal of confidence in the military to act in the public’s best interests has fallen 14 points, from 39% in November 2020 to 25% in the current survey.

Additionally, the shares of Americans with a great deal of confidence in K-12 public school principals and police officers have also decreased by seven and six points, respectively.  

Large majorities of Americans continue to have at least a fair amount of confidence in medical scientists (78%) and scientists (77%) to act in the public’s best interests — placing them at the top of the list of nine groups and institutions included in the survey. 

Elected officials rank at the bottom 

The survey shows that the public continues to express lower levels of confidence in journalists, business leaders, and elected officials. 

Four-in-ten said they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in journalists and business leaders to act in the public’s best interests — six-in-ten now say they have not too much or no confidence at all in these groups. 

Elected officials have a negative rating — where only 24% of Americans said they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in elected officials, compared with 76% who said they have not much or no confidence in them.

Partisan differences

According to the survey, Democrats remain more likely than Republicans to express confidence in medical scientists and scientists to act in the public’s best interests.

There has also been a significant decline in public confidence in medical scientists and scientists among both partisan groups.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, nine-in-ten express either a great deal (44%) or a fair amount (46%) of confidence in medical scientists to act in the public’s best interests.

However, there was a decline in expressing confidence in medical scientists by a drop of 10 points since November 2020, according to the survey.

Among Republicans and Republican leaners, there has been a steady decline in confidence in medical scientists, scientists, other groups, and institutions.

In the latest survey, only 15% have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists, down from 31% who said in April 2020 and 26% who said this in November 2020.

Only 13% of Republicans have a great deal of confidence in scientists, down from a high of 27% in January 2019 and April 2020.

Republicans’ confidence in other groups and institutions has also declined since the pandemic began — the share of Republicans with at least a fair amount of confidence in public school principals is down 27 points since April 2020.

Views towards elected officials declined further to just 15% of Republicans saying they have at least a fair amount of confidence in elected officials to act in the public’s best interests — down from 37% in April 2020, according to the survey.

To learn more about the survey, click here.