America Speaks: Poll Data Summary

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America Speaks: Poll Data Summary

Each year, Research!America publishes America Speaks, a summary of our most recent poll data. Use America Speaks as a resource when contacting your elected officials, writing letters to the editor, op-eds or articles, giving speeches, and advocating for research to improve health.

America Speaks: Poll Data Summary, Volume 26

Gen Z and Science Project

Research!America saw a concerning trend first noted in 2021, that young adults aged 18-24 show weaker support for research than the general population. Americans age 18- 24 were less likely than older Americans to believe in foundational principles, such as: scientific research that “advances the frontiers of knowledge” is necessary and should be supported by the federal government, it is important for the U.S. to be a global leader in science and technology or express concern with the possibility of China surpassing the U.S. as the world’s leading science and technology power.

With support from the Sloan Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, we did an extensive research project to better understand how to engage young adults in science. Working with a leading research firm and using digital analysis, focus groups and survey research, we investigated which messages, types of information and means of communication are most effective in bolstering young people’s engagement with science. Research!America intends for these findings to bolster the science community’s ability to connect with young adults, today’s most active users of online information and tomorrow’s funders of taxpayer-supported research.

Research!America Roundtable

Alzheimer’s Disease: Setting the Stage for Big Leaps Forward

In March 2025, Research!America convened a select group of highly informed stakeholders, drawn from the Alzheimer’s community and Research!America Board of Directors, for a unique discussion informed — but not limited by — the current policy environment, and designed to bring forth transformative challenges to the field of Alzheimer’s disease research. The discussion, moderated by Debra Lappin, was robust and outlined key challenges, issues for further exploration and recommended actions — all with the purpose of enabling big leaps forward for Alzheimer’s patients, their families, and the larger research and clinical care community.

Recommended Strategies to Integrate Public Engagement and Civic Science Training Into Graduate STEMM Education

Research!America convened the Public Engagement Working Group to advise Research!America on strategic action steps needed to integrate public engagement and civic science training into graduate science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) education. Led by co-chairs Alan Leshner, CEO Emeritus of AAAS, and Keith Yamamoto, Professor Emeritus and Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and Strategy at UCSF, the group engaged 26 members from academia and philanthropy. The group met between December 2023 and May 2024 for presentations and discussions to assist Research!America in developing recommendations for academic institutions, federal funders, and foundations.

Those concrete steps, described in the strategic document, will help ensure that all STEMM trainees have access to public engagement training. Research!America thanks the Rita Allen Foundation for its generous support and the working group for their valuable insights and input.

U.S. Health and the Future of Food

Research!America partnered with the American Heart Association and Deloitte to produce a report with an accompanying national public opinion survey to examine how food and
nutrition are inextricably linked to health care outcomes.  The report also details the urgent challenges to creating a food system that effectively integrates nutritious food into health care for the prevention, treatment and care of cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.

Visualizing the Landscape of Training Initiatives for Scientists in Public Engagement in the United States

In partnership with the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, Research!America conducted an in-depth mapping of the public engagement training landscape in the United States. This inaugural report offers a detailed overview of the diversity and scope of training initiatives enhancing public engagement for scientists. Notably, the report includes an interactive dashboard that provides a dynamic window into the rapidly developing field of training in public engagement. Together, the report and dashboard are designed to inspire new discussions, connections, and collaborations that further strengthen the ecosystem of public engagement training for scientists.

The Research!America Microgrant Program: Exploring its Impact on Early Career Scientists

Connecting scientists to citizens and citizens to scientists to foster understanding and further shared goals has been central to Research!America’s mission since it was founded in 1989 and it continues to be a vital focus for the organization today. A core component of our civic science work is the Civic Engagement Microgrant Program, supported by the Rita Allen Foundation. Since 2018, our Microgrant program has worked directly with groups of STEM graduate students and postdoctoral researchers (post-docs) from across the country to provide small grants to support civic engagement projects. At this juncture, having supported 65 microgrants over the past four years, it is beneficial to take a deep dive into the initiative.

U.S. Investments in Medical and Health Research and Development

A report from Research!America shows total U.S. investment in medical and health R&D grew by 11.1% from 2019 to 2020, reaching $245.1 billion, led by the private sector and the federal government. Even with the one-time infusion of federal funding in 2020 to address COVID-19, our nation spent less than 6 cents of every health care dollar on R&D. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of public and private sectors working individually and in partnership to rapidly translate decades of scientific discovery into safe and effective vaccines and treatments.

Then. Now. Imagine. – An A-to-Z Look at Diseases, Conditions, and Disorders that Impact Our Lives

Then. Now. Imagine. – An A-to-Z look at diseases, conditions, and disorders that impact our lives, a collaboration between Research!America and the Lasker Foundation, provides an overview of 60 diseases and conditions impacting people around the globe, emphasizing the ways in which medical science has improved outcomes today and holds potential for further progress in the decades ahead.