Political ideology and trust in scientists in the USA

Abstract

Trust in scientists is a key predictor of compliance with science-based solutions to societal challenges. Although liberals in the USA generally trust scientists more than conservatives do, it is not clear how these ideological differences vary across different scientific occupations and whether they can be mitigated. Here, in this Registered Report (including 7,800 US participants), we demonstrate that, even though the strength of the relationship between political ideology and trust varies across scientific occupations, liberals (compared with conservatives) show higher trust in most scientists. Moreover, following motivational accounts of scientist distrust, the study tested five theoretically grounded intervention strategies to improve conservatives’ trust in scientists. None of the interventions were successful, suggesting that trust in scientists reflects relatively stable attitudes that require more elaborate and time-intensive interventions.

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Fig. 1: Trust in scientists by ideological levels averaged across all occupations (circled numbers represent means), based on n = 2,248 (that is, liberals and conservatives from control conditions).

**Fig. 2: The relationship between political ideology and trust in scientists across different occupations.**

**Fig. 3: Mean levels of trust in scientists (circled numbers) as a function of ideology for occupations for which the effect of ideology is strongest (top) and weakest (bottom).**

**Fig. 4: Interaction between the strength of political identification and experimental conditions (multilevel model based on n = 6,690, that is, conservative participants).**

**Fig. 5: Design of the main study (between-subjects design).**

Data availability

Data for pilot studies and the main study are available via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/n63mz.

Code availability

R analysis code for pilot studies and the main study is available via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/n63mz.

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Acknowledgements

The funding for this project was provided by the ERC (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme) grant awarded to B.T.R. (grant agreement no. 849125). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Vukašin Gligorić, Gerben A. van Kleef & Bastiaan T. Rutjens

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Vukašin Gligorić

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Contributions

V.G. carried out the conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation; drafted the article and revised it critically for important intellectual content; and carried out the initial idea on the relation between political ideology and trust in scientists. G.A.v.K. and B.T.R. carried out the design, data interpretation and supervision, and revised the article critically for important intellectual content. G.A.v.K. also carried out the initial idea on interventions. B.T.R. also carried out the acquisition of funding.

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Vukašin Gligorić.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Aaron R. Caldwell, Taciano Milfont and Alexa Tullett and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Gligorić, V., van Kleef, G.A. & Rutjens, B.T. Political ideology and trust in scientists in the USA.
Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02147-z

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Received: 25 June 2023
Accepted: 18 February 2025
Published: 14 April 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02147-z

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Political ideology and trust in scientists in the USA

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