Researchers at UT Austin asked a small sample size of registered voters when they think its appropriate for politicians to defer to scientists for advice.  A good summary of the findings can be found here. The major (and not so obvious) points are that a) democrats are more likely than republicans to support and follow scientific advice and b) republicans aren’t as “anti-science” as the media would have us perceive.  For the most part, republicans also typically opted to accept scientific advice. Huzzah!