A Ray of Hope For Americans and Scientific Literacy?

An anonymous reader with a snippet from Politico: "A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers. Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that, on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who leaned conservative. However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually better versed in science than those who didn't, Kahan found. The findings met the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said. Kahan wrote that not only did the findings surprise him, they embarrassed him. 'I've got to confess, though, I found this result surprising. As I pushed the button to run the analysis on my computer, I fully expected I'd be shown a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension,' Kahan wrote. 'But then again, I don't know a single person who identifies with the tea party,' he continued.'" More at the Independent Journal Review.

Comments

Medical professionals

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of private practice Drs and Dentists back the tea party, as they vote single issue - lowering the taxes on their $300k+ incomes. Medical degrees and certifications are of course lumped in the science bucket so probably make up a large part of the total. They tend to dislike welfare programs such as medicaid and medicare too, as they cut into their profit margins.

Re:Medical professionals

[Jane Q. Public]

"This is only surprising if your idea of who supports the Tea Party segment of the Republican Party comes from MSNBC. Hint: most aren't social conservatives."

Perhaps even less surprising when you realize that the Tea Party itself did not identify with Republicans. It is true that they leaned somewhat conservative but there was a significant portion of liberals in their ranks, too.

The (modern) group that originally called itself the Tea Party was as fed up with the Republican Party as it was with the Democratic Party. It wasn't until later that the Republicans usurped their banner.

Re:Medical professionals

[sumdumass]

You are almost right. The association with republicans leans from the fact that most of the tea party objections to the parties line up with the facade the republicans would put forward to get elected but forget about once in office. This was highlighted enormously with the bank bailouts, the GM bailouts, and the slush fund created under the guise of the stimulus in which the tea party movement more or less was created.

In short, it was easier to hijack the republican party then to create a new party and complain that they don't get any respect like the libertarians and the greens party do. (note, that isn't a jolt on the libertarians or the greens, it is just an explanation of what was happening). This is what Obama is so pissed at, it is what McCain the maverick who lost against Obama was pissed at, and what the talking heads in the MMS echoed but failed to grasp. A group of people outside the system are successfully using the system to demand change and they call themselves the tea party.

Re:Medical professionals

[sumdumass]

Sorry, but that's backward There is no way an "independent" party could "hijack" the enormous Republican party. The very idea is laughable. If they could have, there would have been no need for a third party at all. They could have just joined the Republicans and then reformed the party.

One of the biggest reasons the libertarian and Green Parties get glossed over is that about 80% of their platforms are functionally identical or compatible to existing platforms of other parties. The problem for them is that the differences that do remain are showstoppers for them to be in those other platforms. The tea party movement realized that infiltrating one of those parties would allow changes like when the Christian Coalition took over the republicans at one point in time.

The Republicans realized that the Tea Party (which, again, contained a significant number of former liberals) was actually trying to do what the Republicans SAID they were doing for decades, but not actually doing. This could have been devastating to the Republican party. So the Republican donned the masks of the Tea Party and pretended to be them. Successfully. And some of them are even halfway serious about it.

That might be more believable if the Tea Party had not challenged republicans who held safe seats in government during the primaries just to lose the general election to political adversaries. What you are claiming would require the republicans to actually defeat themselves in an attempt to make themselves win under a false pretense. That's a little like a bank robber asking the cops to drive the get away car at his next heist.

But make no mistake: this isn't the original Tea Party, even though some people have hung on. You will find no liberals there. You will probably find a lot of rhetoric about smaller government and lower taxes, but little real action.

I think the recent government shut down proves you wrong on this. It was ineffective action but if you paid attention to the contents of Ted Cruze's speeches or the speeches of the Tea Party members who were behind it, you would understand that they did it specifically because the people asked them too do something.

Just watch cruze's concession speech before the vote to end the shutdown and pay attention to what is being said before injecting your ideological opinions of the content.

So you suggest that the republican party put on masks and pretended to be tea part members for some sort of gain. What type of gain have they received? what gain has the republicans received when it only divided the party showing the difference between the establishment and the tea party conservatives? Your own president marks a clear distinction between the two, so which is it? One in the same or two separate movements?

Re:Medical professionals

[Jane Q. Public]

"One of the biggest reasons the libertarian and Green Parties get glossed over is that about 80% of their platforms are functionally identical or compatible to existing platforms of other parties."

Just no. First, the Greens are primarily a one-issue party. And second, while there are a few vague similarities between Libertarian values and the Republican platform, they are not even remotely the same. Especially when you consider that even when it comes to those similarities, the Republicans over the last few decades have been almost all talk and no walk. 80% is way, WAY off. If you are measuring actions, rather than words, try 10%.

Not that I blame you personally. The Libertarian party is widely misunderstood, in part precisely because of misinformation from both the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats, in particular, have frequently characterized Libertarians as being "far right", when nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, it's not even close. The Republicans, on the other hand, simply try to marginalize the Libertarians, because the Libertarians really mean what the Republicans only pretend, when it comes to "smaller government". (But again, that's only a part of the Libertarian platform.)

"That might be more believable if the Tea Party had not challenged republicans who held safe seats in government during the primaries just to lose the general election to political adversaries. What you are claiming would require the republicans to actually defeat themselves in an attempt to make themselves win under a false pretense. That's a little like a bank robber asking the cops to drive the get away car at his next heist."

You are arguing against yourself, and and making MY argument for me. Tea Partiers running against Republicans? Then how could Republicans BE Tea Partiers? This is actually part of my own argument. The Republicans saw the writing on the wall. They saw they were getting stiff opposition so they leaned in the direction the wind was blowing. But even those Tea Party principles they claim to have adopted, they adopted in weakened form. And they only did so because they were being challenged by the Tea Party.

"I think the recent government shut down proves you wrong on this. It was ineffective action but if you paid attention to the contents of Ted Cruze's speeches or the speeches of the Tea Party members who were behind it, you would understand that they did it specifically because the people asked them too do something."

No shit. I repeat: they saw the writing on the wall, and saw that the American public was highly supportive of the Tea Party. So they do those things. There is no conflict or contradiction there with what I was saying. Example: Ron Paul ran on the Republican ticket, yet few people would mistake him for anything but a Libertarian (although he does hold a few typical Republican values that conflict with Libertarian values). On the other hand, I don't think anybody would mistake Ted Cruz for anything but a Republican.

"So you suggest that the republican party put on masks and pretended to be tea part members for some sort of gain. What type of gain have they received? what gain has the republicans received when it only divided the party showing the difference between the establishment and the tea party conservatives? Your own president marks a clear distinction between the two, so which is it? One in the same or two separate movements?"

I'm not "suggesting" it. It's a statement of fact. Look it up. They had to adopt "Tea Partier" principles or lose elections. It's that simple.

Re:Not Surprising

[NotQuiteReal]

You spelled "know" incorrectly. Besides, it is the opposite political philosophy from the Tea Party crowd that have "magical thinking" about how things work. Mostly they just want centralized government to do less.

You like your computer networks decentralized, why not your government? Local is better.

That's unpossible!

[Okian Warrior]

That can't be!

Everyone knows that the Tea party is a bunch of comic, laughable clowns with no grounding in reality. I mean, why else would they be so thoroughly lampooned using derogatory terms and snarky, dismissive comments.

Even Obama himself (praise be his name) mocks them.

It can't be true... can it?

Re:That's unpossible!

[swillden]

I'd be surprised too, as the Tea Baggers tend to think that climate change is some kind of made up science (Yale Climate Change Study).

However, that result is consistent with the other study which showed that people who hold a strong position only get more certain of that position as the get more information, regardless of what the information says. So you'd expect more scientifically-informed climate deniers to deny more strongly than less-informed client deniers.

It's also worth pointing out that the Tea Party movement as such has no position on climate change at all.

actual "platform"

[NotQuiteReal]

Here is the actual Tea Party platform

Feel free to argue any of those points, but don't just make up stuff. Far too often (if not "always") there is no debate on the issues... just "but what about the children/unborn". Whatever.

Re:actual "platform"

[Arker]

"Exactly what are "excessive taxes"?"

Taxes in excess of those required to fulfill constitutional mandates. Easy.

"Because once you start cutting revenue you have to start cutting programs. And once you start cutting programs you run into the problem that SOMEONE thinks that that particular is not "excessive"."

Yes indeed, this is how dirty politics works. Everyone votes for the whole pile of pork in order to keep the one program that actually benefits them personally. The weight of all the unproductive expenditures drags down the economy as a whole and makes the nation poorer, but the 'elite' who are already rich and well connected will still manage to get richer by diverting the lions share of those expenditures even while the rest of us struggle to keep our heads above water.

The only solution is to kill all the pork in one swipe. Most people will give up their own slice, as long as everyone else does the same simultaneously. But no one is going to willingly give up their slice, however pathetic, without getting a refund on the rest of the pork at the same time.

Re:actual "platform"

[lgw]

Overall, Tea Party member are better educated and wealthier than the average American.

If you shed your prejudice, this shouldn't surprise you at all. Politically active people in general tend to be so either because they're interested in the mechanics of politics, or because they have a significant stake in the system.

That's in noticeable contrast to those who show up at "rallies", but don't vote, don't volunteer for a candidate come election season, and wonder why they're ignored by politics even though they're shouting just as loud.

The Tea Party gets press every week. Remember those "occupy" guys - yeah, neither does the press. There's a reason for that.

Re:actual "platform"

[Obfuscant]

Yes indeed, this is how dirty politics works. Everyone votes for the whole pile of pork in order to keep the one program that actually benefits them personally.

The continuing resolution that reopened the government contained lots of pork, according to this. Another article talked about a spending increase of $1.2 billion. It's hard to tell, because the money is hidden in the final bill as amendments to previous legislation, saying things like "in place of the number X substitute bigger number Y."

This is a continuing resolution that is supposed to be continuing the previous budget until a new one can be worked out. And wasn't supposed to be negotiated at all. Senate Democrats balked at the first CR that contained extraneous legislation, but this one was just fine. Nobody wanted to deny the widow of Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) her $174,000 payout.

Re:actual "platform"

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah I love the black and white world you live in, but reality isnt as clear.

Fulfill constitutional mandates? Easy? Have you been paying attention at all?

People have been arguing about interpretations of "constitutional mandates" since right after the constitution was ratified.

What does promoting general welfare mean? I would say Obamacare certainly promotes general welfare, but Tea Party idiots seem to think it is the harbinger of the apocalypse.

As near as I can figure, Tea Party people are ok with benefits so long as they are the ones receiving them. Once other people receive them, it is unwarranted benefits gotten from excessive taxation.

Re:actual "platform"

[Anonymous Coward]

Taxes in excess of those required to fulfill constitutional mandates. Easy.

There's no constitutional mandate to maintain a standing army or navy. That will save you $680B right there, and just about balance the budget in one swoop.

Re: actual "platform"

[maccodemonkey]

Don't see anything about an Air Force!

Although I do see combating piracy. I would like to hear more about the Tea Party's policies on combating high seas pirates.

Re: actual "platform"

[maccodemonkey]

Fundamentally incorrect. Just because a technology improves does not mean the Constitution prevents its implementation.

I don't see this in the constitution. I however, see navy clearly spelled out.

However, I challenge anyone to find Social Security in the Constitution.

Let's short circuit my straw man and get to the real meat of this.

The constitution didn't give women the right to vote. Blacks were considered 3/5ths of a person. There were no Presidential term limits.

"But!" says the tea partier "The constitution gives us the ability to modify it! The founding fathers intended that to deal with future situations that they couldn't foresee! All those things were all good amendments!" And the tea partier would be right.

But then we get to other amendments. The amendments, that for example, give the government the power to create programs such as social security (Amendment 16). Or we get into topics like the Constitution permiting the repealment of the second amendment, entirely legally and under the system the founding fathers set up. "No!" says the tea partier. "We can't do this things! These things weren't intended by the founding fathers! They wrote the constitution specifically as they did as a guidepost for this country!"

And this is when the tea party ceases to be an organization that is an advocate for the founding father or the constitution. Like any other political organization, they have ideas they like, and ideas they don't like. The difference is, they use the founding fathers as puppets for their goals when it suits them. The Constitution says nothing about protecting the skies, yet sane and reasonable people agree that it probably implies that would be ok, even though the founding fathers had never seen an airplane. The Constitutional also says nothing for or against social security, and in fact a later amendment permits it. We, as a country, have decided that the Constitution allows for social security as well. Yet to a tea partier, the air force is totally ok 100% implied by the constitution (even though it says nothing specifically about an air force) yet social security is not (even though the Constitution also says nothing about permitting an air force.)

Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

The stereotypical Tea Partier is, for me, somebody who is professional, a high achiever who believes that most, if not all of that is due to their own merit. They might be really good at science and math; but they're short on compassion and unwilling to admit that they benefited in their youth from programs that are socialist. It doesn't surprise me one bit that they'd be more scientifically literate than average. Scientific knowledge isn't everything when it comes to leadership, management, politics, etc.. In fact, I'd me inclined to say it isn't worth much at all in those positions. Face it. The squishy "human factors" matter.

News Flash: Partisan Caricature Found Incorrect!

[PapayaSF]

I figured out in college that there were smart and dumb people (and informed and ignorant and good and evil ones) on all sides of pretty much any political question. That left emotions as the key issue, and it has never ceased to amaze and depress me how many people think of politics in the the most primitive, emotional ways: name-calling, tribalization, and tons of logical fallacies, all in the service of flinging feces at the Evil Others Who Don't Vote The Right Way.

The Tea Party is an interesting case in point. Their views, boiled down, amount to 1) the federal government should stick to its Constitutional powers, and 2) not spend more money than it has. Those are hardly extreme notions, but you'd never know it from the vicious attacks on them. This is not to say that every Tea Partier is correct on everything, or that their aren't nuts and unsavory types among them, but any political division that encompasses roughly 25-30% of the population will have some nuts and unsavory types.

So I don't find this result terribly surprising, but the people who think Tea Partiers are all ignorant racist/sexist/fascist/homophobes will certainly be surprised.

Final note: anyone interested in the psychology of political belief should check out the work of Jonathan Haidt, particularly his work on moral foundations theory. No matter what you believe politically, it will help you understand why the people who disagree with you think the way they do.

You got republicans and conservatives confused

[Anonymous Coward]

Ron Paul types are idealists, not your "normal" Republicans. We don't think of Ron Paul as a TPer, but that's only because he's so extreme. He's also a bit weird (i.e. mystical) which is why he stayed in that party.

The anti-science people are merely Republicans. There's actually very little conservative about them, and when you ask them about certain aspects of government relationship with people, they'll go left of Stalin and insist upon an extremely authoritarian police state that tells people what to do.

Then there are the non-mystics. They know about science, because science is the only way anyone has ever come up with, for understanding Anything; it turned out that everyone else (the non-scientists) were always lying about everything they said. So of course, they're informed. Not extremely informed, just better than average (remember: average is a pretty low bar). And a lot of them are idealists too. And .. get this .. some of them go with non-planned economies, really thinking that a free market algorithm will tend to find some fairly good optima (and by "fairly good" they mean something superior to everything you've ever seen in real life). So they become Tea Partiers.

That isn't to say all non-mystics become TPers; some believe in Philosopher Kings instead. If only we put unbelievable amounts of power into the hands of the best planners, they'll do Good. And also do better than anything you've ever seen in real life.

And then there's the other 90% of the population, who believe in mysticism. They split between Republican and Democrat however their parents did. And then they (incorrectly) label themselves as conservatives or liberals, or sometimes even become their self-assigned right/left labels through the power of cognitive dissonance. But without the idealism or any intellectual component at all. So they'll project anti-mysticism by knowing about evolution or global warming, but they're really doing it as dogma, not science. They just happen to be correct, as a matter of luck. Had they been told to believe in Body Thetans, they would.

Re:This is dumb.

[Jane Q. Public]

"So far it conforms to the cultural expectations."

You mean it conforms to the stereotype promoted by liberals. Not the same thing.

"So when the people who are "conservative" but not "tea party" are included with the people who are "liberal" then that group scores worse than the group that is "tea party"."

No. If you look at his actual comments, you will see that he found no significant difference in Cognitive Reflection Test scores between liberals and conservatives. He DID find a significantly higher score in those who identify with the Tea Party.

So get off your liberal high horse. I have found this smug attitude about IQ on the part of liberals to be [1] not supported by the actual data (see the link above for yet another bit of evidence), [2] unjustified, in my personal experience, and [3] old, tiresome, and offensive.

Re:Not surprising

[ebno-10db]

Everyone is run through those "programs", and only some come out as high achievers and well-paid professionals. If the program were the cause, then everyone would come out the same.

Flawed logic. Take a group, and give them all the benefit of a socialist program, like government financed education. Some will do better than others, which is at least closer to a meritocracy than would otherwise be the case. Eliminate that socialist program, and only the well off will be able to afford a decent education for their children. You now have a system that is based more on your parent's wealth than your merit. Hence people who believe they've done well because of their merit, and believe that's what success should be based on, should be in favor of such a socialist program.

Tea Party =/= Religious Right

[Culture20]

News anchors and columnists still think anyone that isn't in the Democratic Party is a bible thumping, gun clinging, racist hillbilly. And their view is what gets spread to people in big cities who never experienced a tea party member for themselves. No surprise then that the researcher was surprised that tea party members have a large nerd contingent. We weren't surprised because we've seen them here on /. quite a bit.

Re:What other variable were examined?

[davidannis]

If you read a bit more than the review article you find that scores on the test of scientific literacy they used is highly correlated with years of education. Since the tea party is heavily skewed toward older white males you'd expect them to have more years of education than the general population. Years of education was not controlled for.

Outrage for rent, nothing else

[dbIII]

largely because actually doing something about global warming requires spending and/or legislation/regulation, which is in conflict with their ideology.

You've got it backwards. That astroturf "movement" was funded and assisted so that large numbers of people that opposed the regulations that Koch and the other funders disliked could be bussed in to protests to give an appearance of a lot of support. The people that organised the transport, media releases etc were not "Tea Partiers" themselves but professionals paid to create events. Most of the tea party was literally a rented crowd which is why it has no cohesion and nobody within doing much in the way of organising anything. Left alone they do not appear to be able to organise a drunken party in a brewery.
I'm not knocking the individuals who stand for whatever they do, but instead that it's a disorganised mob that cancel each other out and ultimately don't really stand for anything. They are a weird "only in America" footnote whose time passed once the adult supervision driving the busses decided to do something else.

The ironies are many, the largest of which are the strident calls for replacing the United States with the sort of fuedalistic system that the Boston tea party was a protest against. "Getting the government out of people's lives" really means letting the rich and powerful run a country without interference from the people - just like those English Lords could do.

Dreamers

[PopeRatzo]

Our best hope for scientific literacy for Americans is immigration reform.

Get enough people from places where they don't think the world was made in 6 days and it might raise the average some.

Either that or hope the South secedes.

Re:Not surprising

[Urza9814]

Let's see. Everyone is run through those "programs", and only some come out as high achievers and well-paid professionals. If the program were the cause, then everyone would come out the same. Maybe there is something to the concept that some people are different than others and they can excel because of who they are and not the socialist programs they were subjected to?

SERIOUSLY? Even within my small home town of 10,000, the quality of public school that you went to was pretty directly related to how wealthy your parents were. The school that all the doctors' and lawyers' kids went to? Renovated every 10 years, 20 or less kids per class, teachers' aides in every room, a number of gifted programs, and a lab full of modern PCs, along with PCs in every room, laptop carts, smart white boards, etc. But if you lived in one of the apartment complexes behind the mall you were going to the school where the bricks were falling off and the classes were packed and with few additional programs and your tech classes were taught on shared Apple IIes. In the same school district in the same town.

By highschool all of those schools filtered together...and you know what? I went to the elementary school with all the rich kids, and in highschool guess who I saw in all my AP classes, all my advanced math and science and such? The vast majority were the same kids I'd gone to elementary with -- even though there were six elementary schools in the district.

The problem isn't that these "socialist" programs don't work. The problem is that they aren't actually socialist.

Re:You've met many more than you know

[Pseudonym Authority]

In other words you almost never meet them because you are so insular - I know your type; you are the type I would not tell I am a Tea Party member because you would automatically turn against me without thought, and you'd never suspect me of belonging because my views don't match up with your bigoted notions of Tea Party members.

Oh no, I wouldn't. Honest. If you launch into an unsolicited 45 minute long lecture about ``Fucking Obama is trampling my rights again!'' when you get a parking ticket, then I'm not going to want to be around you. Otherwise, we'd be cool. But as of yet, I've never met any self-identifying TP member who didn't do that.

It's a shame that there are even some people I consider good friends who I cannot admit to being fiscally conservative, because I see how unhinged you become at the thought of any kind of conservative in your ranks...

Christ, you act as if you're about to admit that your gay to a bunch of Muslims or something. Get over the persecution complex.

Something to chew on is that Tea Party members are WAY more tolerant of alternative viewpoints than you are; we have to be.

Hmmm..... Let's look at the behavior and voting records of the members of Congress that are part of the Tea Party....

The Social Conservatives are just the people more used to being loathed by people like you so they don't mind telling you what they are.

And they deserve it, mostly for not being honest with themselves about what their vision for the future really is.

Re:What other variable were examined?

[Kohath]

Why should you control for that? Where do non-white people and non-male people think science knowledge comes from?

Re:This is dumb.

[Jane Q. Public]

"This is about scientific knowledge. Not IQ. They are not the same."

No, it isn't. This is about the Cognitive Reflection Test, which is correlated with IQ, and which has no direct relationship to education. Do I detect a hint of Dunning-Kruger showing through?

"At least read that link you posted all the way to the end."

I did. He claims that the difference is "trivially small", yet elsewhere he shows that it is statistically significant. I'll stick with the numbers rather than his opinion, thanks very much! He even admits that his opinion has been biased. So I'll adhere to the science.

Sorry, but you can't have it both ways. Neither can he. Statistically significant and "trivially small" are mutually incompatible. One is science, and the other is opinion, and they are in conflict. Given that, I'll go with the statistics. Also, saying in effect "I wouldn't be surprised if it reversed" does not lead to the conclusion you appear to assume; perhaps he thinks they will undergo a shift in membership.

"Like I said, lies, damn lies and statistics. Understand what you're measuring and how to measure it."

From what you have written in the last couple of comments, I am pretty confidant that I understand it better than you do.

"Yes. He divided the results into 3 groups. 1. Liberal 2a. Conservative 2b. Tea Party"

Your very choice of numbering indicates a bias. But let's leave that aside for now. While what you say is not false, you present it in a very misleading way. To avoid confusion, I'm going to call them 1, 2, and 3, because they are 3 distinct subgroups of the sample population.

He compared 1 to the population as a whole, and 2 to the population as a whole, and found no significant difference between the results. He then compared 3 to the population as a whole, and found a significant difference.

You are presenting 2 and 3 as 2a and 2b as though there is some kind of statistical impropriety or shenanigans going on. He compared each of the 3 groups to the population as a whole, as is right and proper. Your insinuation that there is something wrong or weird about the way it was divided up is just so much hot air. If he had not compared each against the whole population, then there would have been something strange; but such is not the case.

In fact, his own statements show that what you seem to be implying is false. He states:

"It turns out that there is about as strong a correlation between scores on the science comprehension scale and identifying with the Tea Party as there is between scores on the science comprehension scale and Conservrepub.

Except that it has the opposite sign." [emphasis mine]

Clearly, then, any implied "bias" that might arise from combining your "2a" and "2b" is more than made up for by the difference in scores.

Re:It's simple:

[StephenThomasKrausJr]

Taxes are the lowest they've been in half a century.

Re:What other variable were examined?

[Frequency Domain]

Why should you control for that? Where do non-white people and non-male people think science knowledge comes from?

Because of the potential for Simpson's Paradox.