‘Expertise’ shouldn’t be a bad word – expert consensus guides science and society

Expertise comes with training, experience and accreditation. And expert consensus is the best guide modern democracies have for making decisions about complicated challenges.

By: Micah Altman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Philip N. Cohen, University of Maryland, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: January 22, 2026

Words: 1,269

Last Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago

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By Micah Altman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Philip N. Cohen, University of Maryland

A growing distrust of expertise is reshaping the terrain of science in the United States.

Since the pandemic, the partisan divide over science has widened dramatically. While 77% of Americans have at least a fair amount of confidence that scientists act in the best interests of the public, that breaks down to 90% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans.

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