Surveys reveal that people with more education are more ideologically liberal. And academia has been gradually turning left over the past 40 years. Scientists—the people who produce scientific knowledge—are widely perceived to be on the opposite side of the political spectrum from those who trust science the least. This disparity poses a challenge when communicating important science to the public.

In a recent study, science historian Naomi Oreskes, environmental social scientist Viktoria Cologna, literary critic Charlie Tyson and I leveraged public data sets to explore the dynamics of scientists' political leanings. Our analysis of individual political donations confirms that the vast majority of scientists who contribute have supported Democratic candidates. But we contend that this fact doesn't need to short-circuit effective science communication to the public.