The Earth keeps getting hotter, and Americans' trust in science is on a down trend

Click here to listen to this article Share via A Pew Research poll reveals partisan division over U.S. scientific leadership, with Democrats far more concerned about losing ground than Republicans. The report comes as officials confirm that 2025 was Earth’s third-hottest year on record, pushing it closer to breaching the Paris climate agreement’s 1.5-degree limit. The Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris agreement and and cut federal funding for science and climate programs. As global officials confirm that 2025 was Earth’s third-hottest year on record , a new poll shows Americans are sharply divided over the role of science in the United States. A report published Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans want the U.S. to be a world leader in science, but Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether it is. About two-thirds of Democrats, 65%, fear the U.S. is losing ground to other countries when it comes to scientific achievement - a 28-point increase since 2023, the poll found. Republicans have moved in the opposite direction, with far fewer saying the U.S. is losing ground than in the past, 32%, a 12-point decrease in that same time frame. The divide mirrors “other partisan differences in attitudes around science we have been tracking for years,” the Pew report says. “In particular, partisan differences in trust in scientists and the value of science for society are far wider than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans have become less confident in scientists and less likely to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, while Democratic views are largely unchanged.” The report notes that the Trump administration has reshaped federal science policy, including eliminating research grants, cutting science and health workforces, and shifting priorities away from climate change research . Last month, the administration dismantled one of the world’s leading climate and weather research institutions, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder , Colorado. Some 90% of Democrats say they have a least a fair amount of confidence in scientists, but only 65% of Republicans said the same, according to the poll, which surveyed 5,111 U.S. adults in October. The gap in confidence between both parties on this point has been broadly similar in every survey since 2021. The groups include the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, among many others. Experts said the findings are not particularly surprising. “It’s part of a larger trend toward the politicization of science,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, citing issues such as vaccines and climate change. He said concerns about “falling behind” may be warranted as “the U.S. is very much doubling down on being a ‘petro state’ - exporting our oil and gas - whereas other parts of the world, particularly China, are doubling down on exporting clean energy technologies like wind, solar and batteries.” The report lands as the world continues to head in the wrong direction when it comes...

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