Presidential Candidate Endorsements by Scientific Journal Decrease Trust in Science Especially for Moderate and Conservative Americans

Before the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Presidential elections, several scientific journals publiclyendorsed the Democratic candidates or opposed the Republican candidate. We conducted threehighly-powered, pre-registered online experiments (N = 6,281) to examine how theseendorsements affected trust in science. Results revealed significant declines in trust in science,driven primarily by moderate and conservative Americans. Drawing upon on the theoreticalperspective that trust in science is not monolithic, but rather composed of distinct dimensions, weexamined and observed effects across a range of trust-related domains, including perceptions ofscientific integrity (impartiality), competence (ability), benevolence, and generalized trust inscientific institutions. Notably, these findings highlight how motivated reasoning can amplifyexisting skepticism when individuals who already perceive science as aligned with opposingpolitical ideologies read political endorsements from within the scientific community. Amidstincreasing science-skepticism and politicization, journals must consider the unintendedconsequences of political messaging on public perceptions of science.