Seth Roberts:

There are two mistakes you can make when you read a scientific paper: You can believe it (a) too much or (b) too little. The possibility of believing something too little does not occur to most professional scientists, at least if you judge them by their public statements, which are full of cautions against too much belief and literally never against too little belief. Never. If I’m wrong — if you have ever seen a scientist warn against too little belief — please let me know. Yet too little belief is just as costly as too much. … Addendum. By “too little belief” I meant too little belief in facts … there is plenty of criticism of too little belief in this or that favored theory.

Academics live to show they are not "simple" like ordinary people, but instead apply complex theories and data analysis techniques.  So academics tend to reject the simple data and simple theories that persuade most people.