Key Takeaways:
- 61% of Americans say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, up slightly from 57% in 2023. This is still lower than the 73% of U.S. adults who said this in 2019, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Democrats continue to be more likely than Republicans to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society (76% vs. 51%). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this difference between Democrats and Republicans was far more modest.
Views on the impact of science on society over time
Pew Research Center has had a longstanding interest in studying Americans’ views of the impact of science. A majority of Americans (61%) say science has had a mostly positive effect on society. This is up slightly from 57% in 2023, but still 12 percentage points lower than the 73% of Americans who said this in 2019 prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Americans’ confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public is also lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more, refer to Americans’ confidence in scientists.
Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic party are much more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to say science has had a mostly positive impact on society (76% vs. 51%). This gap has been at least 20 percentage points wide in every Center survey since 2021. In Center surveys prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the difference between Republicans and Democrats on this question was no more than seven points.
Republican views on the effect of science on society have turned less positive since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans are now 19 points less likely to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society than in 2019.
Among Democrats, the share saying science has had a mostly positive effect on society declined slightly between 2021 and 2023 and then rebounded in the new October 2025 survey. Democrats are seven points more likely than two years ago to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society.
Views by race, ethnicity, gender and party
Asian and White adults continue to be more likely to view the impact of science on society more positively than Hispanic and Black adults.
Among Democrats, these differences are at least as big or bigger. About eight-in-ten or more White and Asian Democrats see science’s impact as mostly positive. Black Democrats are far less likely to say the same (51%). Hispanic Democrats sit in the middle with 66% offering a positive rating of the effect of science on society.
Men continue to be more likely than women to say science has had a positive effect on society (67% vs. 56%) and this gender difference exists among Republicans and Democrats.
The share of White Republicans and Black Democrats who say science has had a mostly positive effect on society is lower than it was in 2019.
About half of White Republicans say science has had a mostly positive effect, down from the 70% of White Republicans who said this six years ago.
About half of Black Democrats also say science has had a positive effect on society. In 2019, 62% of Black Democrats said this.
The share of Hispanic Democrats who say science has had a mostly positive effect declined between 2021 and 2023 and then rebounded in the new survey. (66% of Hispanic Democrats say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, about identical to the share who said this in 2021.)
Views by education
Americans with higher levels of education are much more likely than those with less education to say science has had a positive effect on society. A vast majority of those with a postgraduate degree (82%) and a bachelor’s degree (75%) say the impact of science has been mostly positive.
In contrast, less than half of adults with a high school diploma or less education (46%) say science has had a mostly positive effect on society.
Across both parties, adults with more education give more positive ratings of the impact of science on society than those with less education (unlike confidence in scientists, in which there are education differences among Democrats but not Republicans).
- 92% of Democrats with a postgraduate degree view the effect of science on society positively, compared to 63% of Democrats with a high school education or less.
- 69% of Republicans with a postgraduate degree view the effect of science on society positively, compared to 37% of Republicans with a high school education or less. Half of Republicans with a high school diploma or less education say the effect of science on society has been equally positive and negative.
