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As the coronavirus pandemic sheds light on scientific research, people around the world have gained confidence in both science and scientists, according to a new survey released Monday.

The results from the opinion poll are a report Published by the Wellcome Trust, a foundation focused on health research in London, it showed that around 80 percent of people in 113 countries said they had “a lot” or “somewhat” confidence in science. Nearly three-quarters of the 119,000 people surveyed said they trusted either “a lot” or “some” of the scientists.

“I was not surprised by the survey results,” he said. Fatma Tokhmafsan, a geneticist and science communicator who was not involved in the survey. Ms. Tokhmafshan has recommended an interdisciplinary response to the pandemic among scientists in fields ranging from public health to immunology, zoology and epidemiology, helping people understand the links between science and their own well-being.

“The general public may not know scientists in real life, but most people know a doctor or nurse,” Ms. Tokhmafshan said. “Now everyone has at least heard of a scientist or read something a scientist wrote.”

The Gallup-led survey interviewed people from August 2020 to February 2021, while vaccine trials were ongoing and largely before Covid vaccines became available to the public in many countries.

Worldwide, confidence levels have increased significantly among people who say they know “some”, “little”, or “nothing” about science since the last survey in 2018. Awareness of its importance during the pandemic, according to the study’s authors.

The proportion of those who say they trust science “too much” increased by at least 10 percentage points in East Asia (especially China), Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

In the United States, the survey found that 54 percent of Americans said they trusted scientists “a lot,” an increase of 9 percent over the 2018 survey. The most recent US survey data was collected from August 2020 to October 2020 as confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 people rose 60 percent.

The results may surprise the audience. wave of misinformation About the virus, which has caused many to question vaccines, reject public health measures such as masking and distancing, or seek unapproved treatments such as antimalarial drugs or ivermectin, which are often used medicinally. an animal worm medicine.

Newer Gallup poll Conducted in July, it found that confidence in science was increasingly diverging along partisan lines. Since 1975, when the last poll was conducted, Republican confidence in science has dropped 27 percentage points, while Democrats’ confidence has increased by 12 percentage points.

“As the percentage of people who trust and respect science has increased, so has the proportion of people falling victim to conspiracy theories and misinformation,” Tokhmafshan said. “It’s a growth that’s happening on both sides.”

The survey also revealed that people in the United States have significantly less confidence in the government’s perception of science. Only 13 percent of Americans said government officials “highly” value the views and expertise of scientists, based on a question asked during the last term of former President Donald J. Trump’s administration.

“While this report provides a snapshot of the outlook in 2020 ahead of successful vaccines or licensed treatments, it is vital that we be able to listen and understand people’s views,” said Beth Thompson, deputy policy director for the Wellcome foundation. an idiom.

Maimuna Majumder, a computational epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not surveyed, said she has noticed that more people are showing interest in her perspective than before the pandemic. He also discovered that the politicization of the pandemic affects those who trust him as a scientist and those who do not.

Dr. “I am also a Muslim, my use of BIPOC and pronouns affects those who find my perspective as a scientist credible,” Majumder said in an email.

In Ms. Tokhmafshan’s eyes, scientists must raise the voice of scientists from marginalized groups and also increase access to underserved communities that can be sheltered. historical distrust in medical institutions.

“Representation and equality are very, very important for building trust,” Ms. Tokhmafshan said.