As the pandemic nears the conclusion of its second year, a new report from the Pew Research Center shows Americans' faith in medical scientists and scientists is slipping. Not only that, but Americans' confidence in all nine groups on the survey fell in the last year just as the omicron variant was first detected in the United States.
The polling also illustrated a stark partisan divide related to political affiliation and trust in science and medicine. In 2016, 16 percent of respondents who identified as Republicans or leaned Republican said they had little or no confidence in medical scientists. By December 2021, that number rose to 34 percent. In contrast, those who were Democrats or leaned Democrat saw virtually no change in their feelings towards medical scientists in the same time span.
