Academia and This Upcoming Election

     Science has not been a hot topic in this election. In fact, it's been greatly ignored among the debates and in most rallies. How each candidate stands on environment and other science fields is something that would take some research to find out. 

     Most of the time, those who follow science as a career tend to be liberal in politics. But, there are some conservative scientists out there who are afraid to talk politics with their peers. Many of them feel uncomfortable admitting their views and when interviewed were asked to keep their identities secret. A biologist from Yale University admitted to voting for Trump even though she doesn't agree with him on a lot of things and admitted to staying quiet when hearing her colleagues talk about the election. Neil Gross, a sociologist at Colby College, says that he understands her concerns about being a conservative at a university. He even says that the nomination of Donald Trump probably has worsened the issues already in place. A lot of researchers that were interviewed said that their vote wasn't persuaded by the amount of knowledge the candidates have on science since it's been largely ignored. Some even say they are happy the candidates don't have science to back up ideas they have and believe that the government has been far too involved anyways. 

     There are some conservative scientists out there who are voting for Trump. It's important to remember that many of them aren't voting because of just one view or aspect of him. Most are doing so because of a bigger picture they want to see. 

J.M.

Reardon, Sara, and Nature Magazine. "Why Some Scientists Support Donald Trump." Scientific       American. N.p., 19 Oct. 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.