Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
cies, as compared to 33 percent of conservatives. For many other scientifi c
questions, however, politics appears to play no role. For example, con-
servatives tend to get a slightly higher proportion of correct answers on
questions about astrology and antibiotics, whereas liberals do slightly
ies is that, when science collides with deep convictions (such as those
on religion or politics), conviction often trumps science, even for those
who are highly educated.
At present, there is limited evidence on the determinants of public
views on global warming. We can look at existing surveys to get the
basic results, however. In 1997, there was essentially no partisan differ-
ence in views about global warming, but a sharp partisan divide on
global warming has emerged since then. The Pew survey in 2010 found
that 89 percent of declared liberal Democrats think that the earth is
warming, while only 33 percent of conservative Republicans do.
Another interesting feature is what people believe the scientists be-
lieve. Among Democrats, 59 percent say that most scientists agree that
the earth is warming mostly due to human activity, while only 19 per-
cent of tea party Republicans think that scientists agree the earth is
agreements are widening, but scientists are actually developing a greater
consensus on the basic science of climate change.
We might hope that education would be the answer. However,
there is no substantial difference by level of education: 61 percent with
high school or less believe there is solid evidence for warming, while 60
percent with postcollege education hold that view. In this case, ideology
trumps education.
8
The increasing gap between public and scientifi c views on climate
change shown in Figure 42 is a major concern for those who think vig-
orous steps should be taken soon. How can it be that highly educated
Americans appear less informed about the science than those who
never went to college? What accounts for the dramatic drop in public
acceptance of mainstream climate science?
To understand this strange trend, we turn to studies of the forma-
tion of public opinion. To begin with, survey researchers have found
