Scientists And The American Public Are Far Apart On Science Issues, Pew Survey Finds

[RKP5637]

I'm with the scientists on all issues!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/scientists-american-public-survey_n_6573266.html?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American public and U.S. scientists are light-years apart on science issues. And 98 percent of surveyed scientists say it's a problem that we don't know what they're talking about.

Scientists are far less worried about genetically modified food, pesticide use, and nuclear power than is the general public, according to matching polls of both the general public and the country's largest general science organization. Scientists were more certain that global warming is caused by man, evolution is real, overpopulation is a danger and mandatory vaccination against childhood diseases is needed.

In eight of 13 science-oriented issues, there was a 20 percentage point or higher gap separating the opinions of the public and members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, according to survey work by the Pew Research Center. The gaps didn't correlate to any liberal-conservative split; the scientists at times take more traditionally conservative views and at times more liberal.

"These are big and notable gaps," said Lee Rainie, director of Pew's internet, science and technology research. He said they are "pretty powerful indicators of the public and the scientific community seeing the world differently."

In the most dramatic split, 88 percent of the scientists surveyed said it is safe to eat genetically modified foods, while only 37 percent of the public say it is safe and 57 percent say it is unsafe. And 68 percent of scientists said it is safe to eat foods grown with pesticides, compared with only 28 percent of the general public.

Ninety-eight percent of scientists say humans evolved over time, compared with 65 percent of the public. The gap wasn't quite as large for vaccines, with 86 percent of the scientists favoring mandatory childhood shots while 68 percent of the public did.

Eighty-seven percent of scientists said global warming is mostly due to human activity, while only half of the public did. The figures for scientists are slightly different than past academic studies because of wording of the question and the fact that AAAS members include many specialties, but they tell the same essential story, said Pew associate director Cary Funk.

[KingCharlemagne]

1. I'm a humanities and social science person, but I place a lot of faith in

the Scientific Method as the most reliable tool we have for discerning 'truth' or 'reality'. So this gap causes some distress and I'm at a loss to explain why it is as significant as it is. Maybe one of our sociologists or anthropologists could explain the 'why.' Has public science education failed utterly?

[davidn3600]

2. Too bad Americans don't have the same skepticism with their religion

They put more belief in what their priest says Sunday mornings than what a scientist has proven with facts.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. The American public has always had its problems with the "eggheads" or intellectuals

at least some of the public, even in a scientifically advanced country like the U.S.

[hifiguy]

4. A significant part of the 'murkan populace has always

disdained education and the educated. And the dumbing down of the last 35 years has made it a lot worse. The US, taken as a whole is, I am certain, the most scientifically ignorant and illiterate developed nation on earth as well as being the all-round dumbest. What's worse is that so many of the morans are actually PROUD of being morans.

ETA: The scientific method, when used properly (as in no conclusions before results) and the rationality of which it is a part is the ONE AND ONLY tool humanity has that is both self-correcting and works consistently.

[Bandit]

5. "scientifically advanced country like the U.S."

[hifiguy]

6. It is. Science developed vaccines to cure polio, took man

to the moon and brought him safely home, and invented the microchip. They're all labeled MADE IN THE U.S.A. But that was before the great dumbing down that began on 1/20/81.

[Bandit]

7. Perhaps decades ago but then came the Republican revolution

Now the people sitting as Chairs on the Science committees don't believe in Science. They believe it is all God's doing..