Not really. These last few generations of Americans have really been dumb downed compared to the past.
In the past being dumb and not believing in science was looked down upon.
For example when the polio vaccine came out local governments instituted doctors and nurses to go to schools all across America and give out the shot to children. Very few Americans pushed back because they knew how deadly polio was to children. My mother and grandmother told me how common it was back then for kids to have polio. How in a class there would be 3 or 4 kids in a classroom that had leg braces cause polio ravaged their body.
Or how influenza use to kill thousands of Americans before a vaccine was made in the 50s and 60s. Hell my great great aunt who was born in 1920s (she is still alive today). Talked about how two of her sisters died when they were children because they caught influenza and that her father (my great great grandfather). Had to be sent away to a special hospital because he caught influenza. And he was sent there because he was on his death bed. Back then because there were no antiviral medication if you caught influenza and developed bronchitis and pneumonia from it. There was a good chance you weren't gonna make it and you had to be hospitalized and separated from everyone else in order to not spread it. Anyway my great great grandfather pulled through, but was hospitalized for like 6 months. Once the vaccine and antibacterial medicines came out Americans had no problem taking it because they knew first hand how dangerous the virus was.
But that was a differvent time. The avg american saw death and might have actually lost family members due to plagues or viruses. They also didn't think they could watch a tv show and become an expert on something. Or think a boat sailing around the world was fake and created because of a glitch in the matrix...