A Gallup survey out this week reveals a wide partisan gap in perceptions of evolution. Specifically, 60% of Republicans say humans were created in their present form by God 10,000 years ago, a belief shared by only 40% of independents and 38% of Democrats.
These Gallup findings are the latest to underscore an emerging partisan divide on controversial areas of science. With many prominent Republicans continuing to dispute climate change, Democrats in recent elections making stem cell research part of their campaign strategy, GOP primary candidates openly doubting evolution, and Hillary Clinton promising to end Bush's "war on science," these issues have become part of America's partisan DNA.
In other words, it's very easy for citizens to convert climate change, stem cell research, or evolution into just one more wedge issue like abortion, taxes, or gun control that help define what it means to be a Republican or Democrat. The political packaging of science for electoral gain is the unfortunate outcome of a lot of different forces, with both Republican and Democratic leaders to blame.
Incidentally, the Gallup survey results also help indirectly shed light on how many non-religious, agnostic, or atheistic American adults might be out there. Consider the graph below, that shows that the proportion of Americans who believe that evolution has occurred with God playing no part has edged up slightly over the past 15 years to roughly 14%. This figure compares favorably to data from a recent Pew report that measures roughly 16% of Americans as saying that they are "religiously unaffiliated."
It's likely, however, that these figures over-estimate the number of truly non-believing Americans who might be out there. Pew reports that among the 16% saying they are unaffiliated, that a large portion (41%) say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives, seven-in-ten say they believe in God, and more than a quarter (27%) say they attend religious services at least a few times a year.
Among all adults, according to Pew, roughly seven-in-ten say they are absolutely certain of God's existence, with slightly more than one-in-five (22%) less certain in their belief.
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Comments
That is not a "partisan gap", that's Republicans being different from everybody else. Did you miss the bit where Democrats and Independents were prectically identical? Why are you still blaming Democrats for not meeting extremists half way?
Posted by: derek | June 27, 2008 5:54 PM
Interesting that the Independents and Democrats are both very similar in proportions, whereas the Republicans are very different from the other two.
Anyway, I think your post underscores an important point - that making science more of a part of the political process puts science at risk of being perceived as a mere partisan political issue. Yet, politically-motivated abuses of science and the immediate and long-term importance of science policy decisions necessitates that scientists dig a bit into politics. How do you think we can delicately walk that thin line between science being politically important, and science being a partisan political tool?
Posted by: Inoculated Mind | June 28, 2008 12:47 AM
The scariest part of this poll is that more than 40 percent of Americans believe humans were created 10,000 years ago. Are we that scientifically illiterate?
Posted by: bkpx | June 28, 2008 6:18 PM
Christ on a cracker, this is depressing. On a slightly brighter note, I recommend glossing the recent NYer article on the "new" Evangelicals. They seem to be a little less anti-wedge.
Posted by: caynazzo | June 28, 2008 9:06 PM
Divine fallin people- you heard it at the onion first!
Posted by: Samuel Skinner | June 29, 2008 6:54 PM
bkpx: right, absolutely stunning. Considering that in theory at least they ALL went through an education system of some type that (at least until recently) taught them rudimentary evolution. Clearly, this isn't being taught very memorably...
Posted by: DBH | June 29, 2008 9:05 PM
To bkpx- yes. 10% can't find the US on the map.
Posted by: Samuel Skinner | June 30, 2008 6:07 PM
Re the following: "It's likely, however, that these figures over-estimate the number of truly non-believing Americans who might be out there. Pew reports that among the 16% saying they are unaffiliated, that a large portion (41%) say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives, seven-in-ten say they believe in God, and more than a quarter (27%) say they attend religious services at least a few times a year."
I wonder. Three in ten unaffiliated people said they didn't believe in God, but seemed to have some involvement in organized religion. But that isn't necessarily a contradiction, depending on how the survey questions worked.
Re attending religious events a few times a year, in my own social circle, I know secular people who attend religious events because of social considerations -- did Pew exclude attending weddings and funerals, which are also often religious services? What if there is a family event like a confirmation ceremony or a bar mitzvah? What if you're an atheist, but you take your elderly mother to Christmas and Easter services?
Also, how do we know what people mean when they say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives? It could mean that it is an active issue of contention (i.e. a nonbelieving respondent in a religious family or culture has to spend time dealing with religious issues). To me, anyway, religion seems 'important' to a number of nonbelievers, if only because they want to combat its influence.
Admittedly I did not read the entire 18-page summary, so maybe I am raising non-issues, but it seems to me one has to tease out declared worldviews from social and political participation.
Posted by: Anna K. | July 3, 2008 11:43 AM