Study: Liberals and conservatives are both biased against science
While conservatives are often stereotyped as being "anti-science," new research from The Ohio State University says that when it comes to ignoring scientists' recommendations, liberals may be the pot calling the kettle black.
Americans across the political spectrum reject scientific claims which counteract their own preset opinions, the researchers found, especially if those opinions are about testy political issues. Though conservatives did have stronger reactions to scientific claims that challenged their views, both groups lost trust in science when it contradicted their beliefs.
"There are definitely established psychological differences between conservatives and liberals," said study co-author Erik Nisbet, "but nothing in the scientific literature has shown that one group is more likely to be more or less biased toward scientific information than the other."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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