Huffington Post quotes a philosophy professor who claims that Heartland "is a real threat to democracy"

Why Global Warming Still Considered Target Of Skepticism For Americans

Scott Brophy, a philosophy professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, agreed that politicians are "out of touch" with the thinking of their constituents. Yet the problem remains, he said, that "1 in every 3 or 4 Americans don't believe in a basic fact."

For democracy to work, according to Brophy, we need to understand how and why people don't trust the scientific facts.

Research has shown that people are motivated to find information that supports their beliefs. "Encountering counterarguments causes us to marshal forces like an army of white blood cells to defend against them," said Brophy.

He pointed to the influence of massive disinformation campaigns such as the recently outed Heartland Institute. "This is a real threat to democracy," he told HuffPost.