Reform UK supporters are the least trusting of scientists among all British political parties, and polarisation could risk undermining strong public trust in science, a new survey has found.
In the UK, trust in scientists is generally high, with 63 per cent of respondents indicating that they have high trust, according to the study published on 9 September.
But the new research has revealed that Reform voters are “consistently the least positive about scientists”, with 32 per cent reporting feeling that scientists are on their side. Supporters of other UK political parties including the Greens, Labour and Conservatives, all feel that scientists are more on their side than Reform, at 71, 60 and 50 per cent, respectively.
Co-led by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and charity Sense about Science, the research is based on a survey of more than 4,000 adults.
The key finding of the research is that trust rests mainly on whether people feel scientists are “on the side of people like them”, rather than if they are perceived as experts.
