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If US presidential elections were held only among American Nobel scientific laureates, Barack Obama would already have won a landslide victory. Sixty-eight Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and medicine recently wrote an open letter to the American public calling on them to support Democratic candidate and current President Barack Obama in his election battle with Republican Mitt Romney. The letter, in particular, says that Obama strongly advocates investment in science and technology, which is the engine of the American economy. If Romney's approach to the budget were implemented, it would have devastating consequences for the long-standing tradition of public support for scientific research at a time when the country's future depends more than ever on innovation born of science. In September 2008, 61 American Nobel laureates had already come out in support of Obama against Senator John McCain, and just before the elections, by the end of October, this number had reached 76. Among the current signatories is the 2003 Nobel laureate in physics with Russian roots, Alexei Abrikosov. At the same time, two of the signatories of the last cycle, Steven Chu (physics, 1997) and Harold Varmus (medicine, 1989), did not sign the letter this time. However, this is simply explained by a conflict of interest. Far from ceasing to support Obama, they are now his appointees: Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration, and Harold Varmus is director of the National Cancer Institute.

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according to The New York Times