Do citizens even want to hear the truth? Public attitudes towards evidence- informed policy making

Abstract

Evaluations-informed policy making is often glorified to be the true approach to introduce and evaluate public policies. Yet is this view also shared by the public? In this chapter, we consider the question which attitudes citizens have toward scientific evidence and how these differ across political systems and individual characteristics. We present the results of a cross-sectional survey among some 9000 citizens in six countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland and the United States) that has been conducted in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020/2021). The survey shows that public support for evidence substantially varies across countries and individuals. Post-truth countries show strong political polarization regarding the attitudes towards evidence-informed policy making. As we discuss, these findings might have import implications for evaluators and future research on evaluation, as they prompt the need for a paradigm shift toward more public participation in evaluations.