Republicans’ Distrust of Science Is Affecting Their Health

David Dee Delgado / REUTERSRepublicans’ distrust of the medical system is leading to a widening healthcare gap, a new study has revealed. Findings published in Nature Human Behavior used survey data gathered in 2024 to show two key stages: one in the 2010s and the second around the COVID-19 pandemic. “Part one is this gap starts to emerge in the 2010s, and it seems like it’s a byproduct of education polarization,” said the study’s co-author and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, political science professor Neil O’Brian. “Folks without a college degree move to the right... That happens for a variety of reasons. Education is a pretty strong predictor of health.” The second phase emerged when typical indicators, such as education, failed to explain the differences in health outcomes. Vaccination rates didn’t completely explain it either, and instead, they found distrust has become baked into conservative populism. O’Brian added, “We turn to the survey data and show that people on the right are less likely to trust, engage, or use medicines to treat chronic illness relative to the left.” “People on the Right are less likely to go to their doctor, less likely to trust their doctor, less likely to think medicines to treat hypertension are safe and effective,” O’Brian added. Read it at The GuardianRead more at The Daily Beast.