Do Americans Think the Country Is Losing or Gaining Ground in Science?

Republicans and Democrats agree that it’s important the U.S. is a world leader in science, but sharply diverge on how the U.S. is faring.

The Trump administration has reshaped federal science policy in the last year. It has reduced the number of research grants and cut the size of the federal science and health workforce. The Trump administration has also shifted priorities away from climate change research while increasingly focusing on artificial intelligence.

In this changing environment, Democrats and Republicans continue to largely agree that being a world leader in science is important and government investments in research are worthwhile. But they strongly disagree on whether the country is keeping up with other countries in science, with the share of Democrats who say the country is losing ground in scientific achievements up sharply in the last two years.