Sunday
Nov082009
Polling on science in America
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 3:44PM Interesting figures released by Pew on the opinion of the American public on science and scientists.
Effect of science on society
| Mostly positive | 84% |
| Mostly negative | 6% |
Contribute "a lot" to society's well-being
| Military | 84% |
| Scientists | 70% |
| Clergy | 40% |
| Journalists | 38% |
| Business executives | 21% |
US scientific achievements are the best in the world
| American public agreement | 17% |
| American scientists agreement | 49% |
Major problems for science, as identified by scientists:
| The public does not know very much about science | 85% |
| Public expects solutions to problems too quickly | 49% |
| New media oversimplify scientific findings | 48% |
| Lack of funding for basic research | 46% |
Differences of opinion between scientists and the public*:
| Agreement with theory of evolution | 87% vs 32% |
| Agreement with theory of climate change | 84% vs 49% |
| Support for use of animals in research | 93% vs 52% |
| Support for compulsory vaccination of children | 82% vs 69% |
| Support for embryonic stem cell research | 93% vs 58% |
* Presumably these would be even more striking if broken down by scientific discipline.
Scientific training changes ideology
| US Public | US scientists | |
| Liberal | 20% | 52% |
| Moderate | 38% | 35% |
| Conservative | 37% | 9% |
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