April 5, 2016

There's Still Time to Get Presidential Candidates to Focus on Science

The ScienceDebate organization is working hard to get science policy into the political conversation

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

With just seven months until the 2016 presidential election, ScienceDebate continues working toward a televised and live-streamed presidential debate on science policy.

ScienceDebate is now calling for final public input on the next set of questions to candidates. This means we're counting on you to submit questions or vote on existing ones between now and April 12.

We are not interested in quizzing the candidates on facts they remember from high school, but instead we'd like to find out what their policies would look like if elected to office. In 2008 and 2012, President Obama, Senator McCain and Governor Romney responded to 14 questions from ScienceDebate in writing and their answers reached almost a billion people each cycle. In 2016, we are working to achieve more.

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So what do readers think are the most significant topics for presidential hopefuls to address? What aren't we hearing about that we should be? I'm particularly interested in energy and climate issues, as well as research funding and priorities.

Science barely gets addressed along the campaign trail, yet the policies of the next administration will shape the way we live for decades to come. These issues will impact the economy, global leadership and innovation and we are working to make sure that hearing about them from candidates becomes the expectation rather than the exception.

This is a chance to have your voice heard, so go visit our growing list of questions and share your ideas and suggestions.

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Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American