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| 154 YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC NEUTRALITY ENDS IN A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT |
Political endorsement by Nature and trust in scientific expertise during COVID-19
Nature Human Behaviour (2023)
High-profile political endorsements by scientific publications have become common in recent years, raising concerns about backlash against the endorsing organizations and scientific expertise.
In a preregistered large-sample controlled experiment, I randomly assigned participants to receive information about the endorsement of Joe Biden by the scientific journal Nature during the COVID-19 pandemic. The endorsement message caused large reductions in stated trust in Nature among Trump supporters.
This distrust lowered the demand for COVID-related information provided by Nature, as evidenced by substantially reduced requests for Nature articles on vaccine efficacy when offered. The endorsement also reduced Trump supporters’ trust in scientists in general.
The estimated effects on Biden supporters’ trust in Nature and scientists were positive, small and mostly statistically insignificant. I found little evidence that the endorsement changed views about Biden and Trump. These results suggest that political endorsement by scientific journals can undermine and polarize public confidence in the endorsing journals and the scientific community.
Main
Scientific organizations and publications have become increasingly involved in electoral politics. In the run-up to the 2020 US presidential election, numerous influential scientific publications, including Nature, Scientific American, the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine and Science, published editorial pieces criticizing then-president Donald Trump’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his antagonistic attitudes towards science. Most of these journals urged voters to replace Trump. Among them, Nature, Scientific Americanand the Lancet explicitly endorsed his challenger Joe Biden1. This marked the first time Scientific American or the Lancet had made a political endorsement. These publications were joined by 81 American Nobel laureates in endorsing Biden’s candidacy2.
The increased political engagement by scientists raises concerns that their endorsements cause right-wing backlash3. Trust in the scientific community has been declining in the United States for decades, with the most pronounced decline among those on the political right4. During the COVID-19 pandemic, such scepticism towards scientific expertise reduced compliance with public health interventions5 and may explain the partisan difference in compliance6,7, with important implications for public health outcomes8. By endorsing a Democratic candidate in a polarizing presidential election during the pandemic, scientists risk intensifying existing distrust from a large segment of the population, particularly because these endorsements were widely reported by conservative media outlets
