Pew Poll: 6% of Scientists are Republicans, and other interesting facts to bring up at parties.
Pew and the AAAS collaborated in surveying scientists and the general public concerning issues from public views of science to research funding and climate change (link). Overall, there are some interesting tid bits that I plan to commit to memory, including:
- 6% of American scientists identify themselves as republicans (whereas 75% consider themselves moderate/conservative)
- Only 20% of scientists think businesses are fair and serve the public interest (vs. 40% of the general public)
- 14% of scientists agreed that “we have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country”, whereas a whopping 41% of the general public agreed
- Roughly 40% of scientists do not believe in God or a higher power; the same is true for only 4% of the general public
- 97% of scientists believe in evolution (8% consisted of intelligent design proponents)
Regarding climate change, this table was particularly telling:
Furthermore, the following is an interesting gauge of the general public’s knowledge of popular science (a function of science education and journalism?):
All in all, the report is thorough, breaking down the data based on gender, education, religion, etc.
