How do Americans perceive political scientists? Many projects rely on political scientists as experts to comment on political events, evaluate candidates, and sometimes offer predictions on electoral outcomes. Our latest report examines how Americans view political scientists and their work. We find that Americans see political scientists as mostly Democratic, and have middling trust in their work. Americans are ambivalent on political scientists’ contributions to society.
Key findings include:
- Americans see political scientists more politically diverse than they actually are. Democratic political scientists are seen as 9 percentage points more common than Republicans, although the actual gap may be greater than 50 percentage points.
- Democrats and Republicans are polarized on political scientists’ contributions. A majority of Republicans (60%) have little confidence in political scientists’ claims about democracy, compared to only 20% of Democrats. Similar gaps emerge in political scientists’ perceived contributions to society and American democracy.
- A majority of Americans would be indifferent to their child studying political science. 66% of Democrats say they would proud of their son or daughter studying political science, while 40% of Republicans would similarly be proud. Only 3% of Democrats and 17% would be disappointed in such an event.
- Americans have a strong preference for neutrality. 71% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats agree political scientists should remain politically neutral.
About the Path to 2024 Report Series
PRL’s Path to 2024 report series is a new monthly chronicle covering partisan attitudes of Americans in the lead-up to the November 2024 presidential election. Each month, we focus on a different salient issue affecting voters and analyze public attitudes from our weekly public opinion poll. We will take on topics ranging from attitudes toward policy issues, such as immigration, to the health of our democracy. Backed by hard data, we hope to inform and dispel myths about what everyday Americans really believe. The reports are produced and written in clear language by PRL political scientists.