NPR

Science On The Ballot: Coronavirus Brings Culture And Expertise To 2020 Election

As COVID-19 takes over the political conversation, Americans' ambivalence about science — and "experts" in general — is likely to come to the forefront.
President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic collapse has shaken voters confidence in him, with the percentage of undecided voters more than doubling in the last two weeks.

It now seems apparent that COVID-19 will dominate American life for months to come, quite possibly through the national election in November.

That means the disease, and efforts to respond to it, will likewise dominate the 2020 campaign and make it largely about something it has never been about before.

That something is science.

It is hard to think of a time when hard science — biology, virology, epidemiology — has been so much the core of our political conflict. Issues from evolution to stem cells to vaccination have long been a part of our political conversation, but not

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