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Pew Survey Documents Gaps Between Public and Scientists
PvtVoid writes: A new Pew Research Study documents an alarming gap between public perception of scientific issues and the opinions of the scientists themselves, as measured by a poll of AAAS scientists. Even worse, the gap is partisan, with clear differences between Republicans and Democrats, and between conservatives and liberals. For example, while 98% of AAAS members agree with the statement that "Human beings and other living things have evolved over time", only 21% of conservatives agree, compared with 54% of liberals. Global warming, similarly, shows an ideological gap: 98% of AAAS scientists agreed with the statement that "the Earth is getting warmer mostly due to human activity", compared with 21% of conservatives and 54% of liberals. Encouragingly, almost everybody thinks childhood vaccines should be required (86% of AAAS members, 65% of conservatives, and 74% of liberals.) Go here for an interactive view of the data.
It's hard to trust anyone who's work is disseminated by the government or media today. Research and reports are spun mercilessly for the gain of whoever needs it. It may not be scientist's fault but when you hear something like "the sky is falling" and then hear it refuted over and over, one starts to take things with a grain of salt. Take, for example, Global Cooling back in the 1970's. That was refuted with Global Warming in the 2000's and now it's simply Global Climate Change which seems to be a catch-all. I don't deny GCC but I certainly want to see the data. What's the old adage that Regan grabbed from the Russian's; "Trust but Verify" I think was it.