Nearly 30 percent globally feel leaders don’t value scientific experts: poll

Nearly 30 percent globally feel leaders in their governments don’t value advice from scientific experts, according to a poll from Wellcome Global Monitor.

The poll conducted in 113 countries and territories showed 28 percent of respondents said they felt the national government didn’t value scientific opinion. 

Thirty-five percent said their national government somewhat valued the opinion of scientists while 25 percent said their government valued scientific opinion a lot.

The results come almost two years since the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the entire world, with governments applying restrictions over citizens’ lives in an attempt to quell the spread of the virus.

Although only 25 percent of individuals thought their government leaders valued scientific opinions a lot, 41 percent said politicians made policy decisions based on scientific evidence a lot. 

Thirty percent said politicians somewhat made decisions about the virus based on scientific evidence while 23 percent said leaders didn’t make the decisions based on evidence at all.

The lack of trust in national governments is evident when individuals were asked who they trusted the most to make a decision on the coronavirus based on scientific evidence.

Doctors and nurses came in at number one with 63 percent while the World Health Organization was in second place at 48 percent.

National governments were number three, in the middle of the pack, at 41 percent. 

Only 41 percent trusted family and friends and 23 percent trusted religious leaders to make decisions about the virus based on scientific evidence.

The poll was conducted between 2020 and early 2021, surveying 1,000 individuals above the age of 15 in each country. The survey had a range for the margin of error from 1.1 percentage points to 5.5 percentage points.