BothSides Deny Science When Inconvenient

When scientific findings conflict with political commitments, partisans on both the left and the right are prone to reject them. The political tilt of researchers and commentators can make denial on the politically dominant side harder to see and harder to study honestly. — Recognizing symmetric motivated reasoning changes how we diagnose distrust in science, design public‑education campaigns, and hold institutions (including researchers) accountable for bias.