A major survey of US opinion has revealed that huge numbers of people reject Darwinian evolution, consider genetically modified (GM) food unsafe to eat and doubt that human activity is warming the planet.
The report by the Pew Research Center in Washington was conducted with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and sought to compare the opinions of a cross-section of the US public with those held by the AAAS’ scientific members.
Published in the journal Science, the survey found that 31 percent of the US public believed that humans had always existed in their present form, with a further 24 percent stating that humans had evolved under the guiding hand of a supreme being. In contrast, only 2 percent of AAAS scientists said humans had not evolved in their time on Earth.
Photo: Reuters
The proportion of the public who believed evolution had happened through natural processes, as described by Charles Darwin more than 150 years ago, was only slightly higher than one-third at 35 percent. The survey drew on telephone interviews with 2,002 US adults chosen to be representative of the nation, and online questions of 3,748 US-based members of the AAAS.
The US has embraced genetically modified crops, with 69 million hectares given over to their cultivation, but the survey suggests the technology is still regarded as contentious by a significant proportion of US society. A striking 57 percent of the public surveyed by Pew believed that GM food was unsafe to eat. The overwhelming view of the scientists, was that the food was safe, with 88 percent having no concerns about eating GM food.
Perhaps the most contentious issue the survey addressed was climate change, where only half of the US public agreed with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change view that climate change was mostly driven by human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels. Nearly half said there was either no good evidence for global warming, or that the recent warming of the Earth was due to natural climate variability.
Scientists and the broader public disagreed most strongly about the safety of GM food, though their views differed substantially on global warming too, with 87 percent of scientists believing that climate change was mostly caused by human activity.
Lead author of the report Cary Funk said the number of issues that scientists and the public disagreed on, and the amount to which they disagreed, were both surprising.
One of the few issues the two groups did agree on was that the International Space Station had been a good investment for the US.
There were some other areas where scientists and the public shared concerns. Both delivered damning verdicts on US science education and the K-12 primary and secondary school system. Among the general public, 68 percent considered US science education average or below average, and an overwhelming proportion of scientists, 84 percent, agreed with them.
Perhaps reflecting a common skepticism over climate change, the survey found greater support among the public for fracking and offshore drilling than among the scientists. Enthusiasm for building more nuclear power plants was far higher among the scientists than the public, with 65 percent versus 45 percent in favor.
In an accompanying op-ed, AAAS chief executive officer Alan Leshner issued a call to arms, urging scientists to strike up “respectful dialogues” with groups in community clubs, science museums and religious institutions.
“The opinion gap must not be allowed to swell into an unbridgeable chasm... We need to have what science is showing be represented accurately and for people to at least have that in their toolbox when they make their own decisions,” Leshner said. “It works against the benefit of humankind for people to have distorted views of what the actual facts are.”
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