Walking on the Moon? Conspiratorial Beliefs and Public Trust in Biomedicine

We examine the role of ‘conspiratorial thinking’ in attitudes to biomedical research. Past research has suggested that if people believe in one conspiracy theory, they are likely to believe in others and that this style of thinking can explain variation in public opinion about science. Using data from the 2015 Wellcome Monitor survey we show which kinds of citizen are most likely to exhibit conspiratorial thinking and how, as hypothesised, this predicts trust in biomedicine.