Santorum: the hoax, it’s this big (Image: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)

From Rick Santorum’s assertion that global warming is a “hoax” to Rick Perry’s support for intelligent design, the current Republican presidential primary season has sometimes seemed like a science-free zone.

But far from being a recent phenomenon, such comments reflect distrust in science among American conservatives that has been building steadily in recent decades. So says Gordon Gauchat of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has analysed results from the General Social Survey, which regularly quizzes a representative sample of US adults.

In 1974, those who described themselves as conservatives placed as much trust in science as self-described liberals. But while trust has remained strong among liberals, for conservatives it has gradually declined.


One explanation is a concerted rejection by US conservatives of the “liberal establishment” – which includes the academic institutions in which many scientists work. That would explain comments from Santorum in February: “President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college,” the candidate claimed. “What a snob… Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college: he wants to remake you in his image.”

Gauchat’s findings may also reflect clashes between supporters of conservative ideology and particular areas of science. The rise of the Christian right, which rejects evolutionary theory and opposes research on embryonic stem cells, may have been particularly important – Gauchet found a similar decline in trust in science among frequent churchgoers. More recently, conservatives have come to fear that global warming will provide an excuse for “big government” to restrict their personal freedom through environmental regulation.

The decline isn’t due to ignorance: it has been strongest among conservatives with the most education. “The educated conservative understands the culture war – how the ideology applies to specific policy areas,” Gauchat suggests.

That makes sense to Dietram Scheufele, a specialist in science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who doesn’t believe that conservatives are inherently anti-science. “Liberals and conservatives both apply their lenses to how they view reality,” he adds.

Once the Republican primaries are over, the successful candidate will have to appeal beyond ideologically committed conservatives to the broader electorate. But if that sounds reassuring, consider this: only in the past few years did the level of trust reported by conservatives dip below that of self-described moderates who had low trust in science throughout.

Gauchat says that these people are in general less educated and seem to view science as alien and threatening, rather than being concerned about its political influence. As there are no fundamental ideological barriers to overcome, moderates may be more amenable to persuasion that science can be a force for good. But there’s work to be done: as any politician knows, the battle for hearts and minds is ultimately won and lost in the centre.

Journal reference: American Sociological Review, vol 77, p 167