Trust in science during the pandemic: an ideological fracture or just a matter of government vs opposition?

2025/05/14 by Davide Angelucci, Davide Vittori · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Risk Perception and Management

paper · doi:10.1080/23248823.2025.2499993

openalex publication_date 2025/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the role of science in politics became crucial but highly politicized, leading to significant distrust in some segments of society. This article examines the political implications of distrust in science during COVID-19 by analysing whether trust in science affected government evaluations and party support. We focus on Italy, which had a unique technocratic government during the crisis. Our results show that trust in science is positively associated with government support and negatively associated with radical right party support. However, distrust in science and support for radical right parties depend on whether these parties are in government or in opposition.

Citations

• Who sets the agenda and who responds to it in the Danish parliament? A new model of issue competition and agenda‐setting
• Technocratic attitudes: a citizens’ perspective of expert decision-making
• Are the religious suspicious of science? Investigating religiosity, religious context, and orientations towards science
• When the Whole Is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: On the Conceptualization and Measurement of Populist Attitudes and Other Multidimensional Constructs
• Performing (during) the Coronavirus Crisis: The Italian Populist Radical Right between National Opposition and Subnational Government

Discussions

• 7/ 📄 Want to read more? Check out the full paper here: doi.org/10.1080/2324... If you’d like the PDF, drop me a DM. [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]