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Merged US conservatives' trust in science has fallen dramatically since the '70s

AdMan

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AdMan
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While trust in science remained stable among people who self-identified as moderates and liberals in the United States between 1974 and 2010, trust in science fell among self-identified conservatives by more than 25 percent during the same period, according to new research from Gordon Gauchat, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
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“This study shows that the public trust in science has not declined since the mid-1970s except among self-identified conservatives and among those who frequently attend church,” Gauchat said. “It also provides evidence that, in the United States, there is a tension between religion and science in some contexts. This tension is evident in public controversies such as that over the teaching of evolution.”
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http://scienceblog.com/53012/study-...ence-has-fallen-dramatically-since-mid-1970s/

Scary.
 
This is no big surprise since so many of those stupid, idiotic, lying Republicans embrace Creationism, Intelligent Design, miracles, and other such crap.
 
Here's another article on the study (the study itself isn't available for free):

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...how-conservatives-lost-their-faith-in-science

So what does this mean for the role of science in setting national policy? "In a political climate in which all sides do not share a basic trust in science, scientific evidence no longer is viewed as a politically neutral factor in judging whether a public policy is good or bad," Gauchat said. Heightened distrust could turn young people away from careers in science and engineering, and in the long run, that could hurt America's standing in a global economy that is becoming increasingly competitive on the technological front.
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I, for one, don't "trust" science, either!

I accept that there is likely an objectively examinable reality, and that science is currently the best available method for examining that reality.

But, just because something "comes out of science" doesn't mean I automatically trust it.
 
Wowbagger said:
I, for one, don't "trust" science, either!

I accept that there is likely an objectively examinable reality, and that science is currently the best available method for examining that reality.

But, just because something "comes out of science" doesn't mean I automatically trust it.
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The question isn't whether you automatically trust something that comes out of science--it was whether you trust science as an institution or not.

I'll see if I can find the actual wording. There may have been a series of questions.
 
Wowbagger said:
I trust that the institution, at least in the long run, is able develop ideas that are accurate enough to be relied upon, in general. Is that good enough?
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I'd say so--based on this study that attitude tends to be something that more conservatives and church-goers increasingly don't agree with.
 
Some of the science-related questions from the General Social Survey that may have been taken into account in the study:

I’m going to read to you some statements like those you might find in a newspaper or magazine article.
For each statement, please tell me if you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree.

A. Because of science and technology, there will be more opportunities for the next generation.

B. Science makes our way of life change too fast.

C. Even if it brings no immediate benefits, scientific research that advances the frontiers of knowledge is necessary
and should be supported by the federal government.

D. Science is too concerned with theory and speculation to be of much use in making concrete
government policy decisions that will affect the way we live.

E. Government decision makers should pay attention only to those scientific theories that have
been accepted by most leading scientists.
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Etc.

Source.
 
According to study distrust of science among conservatives now higher

Study: Trust in science among educated conservatives plunges


Apparently for a majority of them (and a disconcertingly large number of liberals) they don't need "facts" and "data" because they distrust science as a whole. It must be weird to be so scared of the world around you and all the things that explain it. In a way I almost feel sorry for them (meaning the ones that distrust science) in the same way I feel sorry for my dog when it is scared of thunder.

However not all conservatives have gone down that path. What must be done to get the rest back on board with science?
 
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Shoot, someone already made a thread about it.

If you want to merge it, mods, go ahead. Not that I can stop you.
 
Oliver said:
Uhem...
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To a conservative you have three strikes against your argument.

The reseach is from a university in Canada and the article that refrences it is from the Huffington post.

It is well known to all conservatives that universities, Canada and the Huffington Post are bastions of radical liberalism.
 
uruk said:
To a conservative you have three strikes against your argument.

The reseach is from a university in Canada and the article that refrences it is from the Huffington post.

It is well known to all conservatives that universities, Canada and the Huffington Post are bastions of radical liberalism.
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Actually, calling Canada, Uni's and HuffPo "radical liberalism" just proves the studies point. :p
 
uruk said:
It is well known to all conservatives that universities, Canada and the Huffington Post are bastions of radical liberalism.
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Well, that's just silly. Canada has a majority Conservative/conservative government! I dare anyone to walk up to Mr. Harper and tell him he is a bastion of anything Liberal/liberal. :D
 
Conservatives versus Science

DISCLAIMER: I do not intend for this thread to be about any single issues. It is about larger trends. I am not an American, and my interest in this topic resides in the implication it has for the rest of the world.

Many of us are aware that fundamentalist Christians often deny the science of evolution. A new study finds that the issue is more politicized than that. A forthcoming study by Gordon Gauchat of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published in the American Sociological Review, has found, among other things, that conservatives have shown a statistically significant decline i their trust in science since the 1970s. Gauchat further shows that there exists a reversed link between education and trust in science - the higher educated a conservative is, the less the trust in science.

Gauchat said:
…conservatives with high school degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and graduate degrees all experienced greater distrust in science over time and these declines are statistically significant. In addition, a comparison of predicted probabilities indicates that conservatives with college degrees decline more quickly than those with only a high school degree. These results are quite profound, because they imply that conservative discontent with science was not attributable to the uneducated but to rising distrust among educated conservatives.
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(Quoted from my source as the paper isn't available yet.)

I am interested in hearing self-professed conservatives on these boards comment on these findings. I'm not interested in a shouting match or smug people's "I told you so's".

My source for the story is probably controversial to some, as it is a blog dedicated to advancing public understanding of global warming and debunking the many myths surrounding the subject. I ask you to overlook the source if possible and comment on the text.

http://desmogblog.com/conservatives...lican-war-science-and-republican-brain-thesis

(Will update with study link when available.)
 
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