But scientists themselves are more liberal, so go figure.

Yes and by a wide margin.
Of course todays MAGA party has become hostile to science almost across the board...climate change, evolution, vaccinations and on and on.

"Scientists who donate to federal candidates and parties are far more likely to support Democrats than Republicans, in fact, they do so dramatically,
with less than 10% of donations going to Republicans in recent years.
The same pattern holds true for employees of the academic sector generally, and for scientists employed in the energy sector. This was not always the case:
Before 2000, political contributions were more evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans."

"Most American scientists identify as Democrats (55%), while 32% identify as independents and just 6% say they are Republicans.
When the leanings of independents are considered, fully 81% identify as Democrats or lean to the Democratic Party, compared with 12% who either identify as Republicans or lean toward the GOP. Among the public, there are far fewer self-described Democrats (35%) and far more Republicans (23%).
Overall, 52% of the public identifies as Democratic or leans Democratic, while 35% identifies as Republican or leans Republican."

I don't know a single MAGA who actually understands the world they live in. Do you?

whyevolutionistrue.com - American scientists are mostly democrats with almost no republicans is this lack of diversity a problem

Nature: Trends in American scientists’ political donations and implications for trust in science