Conservative politics is more strongly associated with skepticism about science than is conservative religion - and both restrain enthusiasm more than they encourage negativity

Research on Americans’ attitudes toward science shows that both theologically conservative religious views and political conservatism are associated with negative views of science and scientists. In their efforts to understand the relationship between conservatism and science attitudes, however, authors have often prioritized one type of conservatism—either religious or political—rather than exploring the unique role of each. This paper examines the relative weight of religious versus political conservatism as they relate to a variety of attitudes toward science. Using an original nationally representative survey and data from the Pew American Trends Panel, we show that outright hostility toward science is relatively rare, though it is associated with both theological conservatism and political conservatism. Political conservatism is more strongly associated with science attitudes than religious conservatism, a finding that holds across several measures of attitudes toward science, scientists, and science policies and is robust to the inclusion of measures of Christian nationalism. Moreover, these relationships are not limited to contentious scientific fields such as evolution and epidemics, but are also observable in areas of science that have not been seen as widely controversial. Finally, political and religious conservatism are more strongly associated with blunted enthusiasm for—rather than an outright rejection of—science and scientists