Millions of Americans have a low opinion of science and scientists.

According to a recent study, people around the world generally say they have moderate trust in scientists.

Strategies to rebuild trust include transparency, science communication, and community engagement.

One of the most unsettling things about living in the United States today is the fact that millions of Americans have a low opinion of science and scientists. In one poll, 22 percent of adults said they have little or no confidence that scientists will act in the public’s best interests. Five years earlier, that number was only 12 percent (Pew Research Center, 2026).

It’s not a huge mystery why this is so. For years, prominent voices have been telling Americans that scientists should not be trusted.

In 2009, the conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh told millions of his listeners, “Science has been corrupted… None of what they do is real. It’s all lies.”

In 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a podcaster, “There's no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Two years later, he fired a panel of vaccine experts because, in his words, “It was a sock puppet for the industry that it was supposed to regulate.”

In 2023, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson told millions of primetime viewers, “We don't have to trust them [scientific experts], and on big questions of public policy, we absolutely should not trust them.”

In 2025, President Trump told members of the United Nations that global warming is “the greatest con........

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