The Dutch have significantly more confidence in science than three years ago. In 2018, science was awarded a 7.1 for trust in a three-year survey by the Rathenau Institute. In the survey conducted last spring, this was 7.4 percent, writes the institute.
An increase from 7.1 to 7.4 is a lot, said Melanie Peters, director of the Rathenau Institute in the NPO Radio1 program Speech makers. Her researchers believe that the corona crisis and the response of science to it play an important role. Dutch people who say their confidence has increased (nearly 25 percent of those polled) often referred to the speed with which scientists have developed a vaccine.
In the group whose confidence declined (16 percent), the rapid development of vaccines was precisely the reason for this decline. This group has questions about the long-term effects and struggles with conflicting information about vaccines.
Discussion or clarity
According to Peters, highly educated people like to hear different opinions. More practically educated people want clarity. “Is that mouth cap necessary or not?”
More than half of the Dutch (56%) indicate that their confidence has remained the same, the main reasons being that they already had confidence and that scientists ‘just’ do their job.
House of Representatives and government
The researchers also looked at other institutions, such as politics and the judiciary. “Science rises above those other institutions. It is the most trusted institute we have in the Netherlands,” said Peters.
Remarkably enough, confidence in the House of Representatives and the government rose slightly faster than confidence in science, but with the confidence figure at 6, the judiciary finished in second place with a 6.9 behind science.
1500 Dutch people aged 18 and older took part in the study.
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