Stand Up for Science rally drew a more anxious throng than 2017 counterpart

The people at Friday’s Stand Up for Science rally in Washington, D.C., were angrier, more anxious, and less enthusiastic than those attending a similar March for Science 8 years ago, according to Michael Heaney, a political scientist at the University of Glasgow who surveyed the thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to protest the actions of President Donald Trump. Heaney says his findings don’t bode well for participants’ capacity for sustained political action. “The scholarly literature on emotions and politics tells us that anxiety holds people back from political involvement, while enthusiasm pushes them into it,” says Heaney, who also surveyed participants at the much larger Washington, D.C., rally in April 2017 . ...

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