Four Out Of Ten Americans Are Anti-Science

I personally believe the last election turned out the way it did because a lot of Americans just stayed home instead of voting.   But a case could be made that it happened because a lot of people in this country just aren't very bright.   Look at the results of this latest Gallup Poll (which might make any thinking person wonder if there's any hope at all for the United States).

The poll was conducted December 10th thru 12th with a random sample of 1,019 adult Americans (and has a margin of error of 4%).   But even if you figure in the full 4% margin of error, the results of the poll are (or should be) embarrassing.   It seems that nearly four oout of every ten Americans don't think much of science -- they believe that god created man as he currently is less than 10,000 years ago (which would mean they believe several scientific disciplines are just wrong and science has not advanced for the last 3,000 years).

It seems that about 38% of the population believe that god created man less than 10,000 years ago.   This is the same percentage that believed this in 1982 (when Gallup first starting polling on this question).   Another 40% believed that man evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life with the guidance of god (a drop of 4% since 1982).   At least this group doesn't deny the reality or advancement of science.

Another 16% of the population believe that man evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life without the help or guidance of any god.   The good news is that this is the one segment of the population that is growing (it was only 9% in 1982, and as recently as 2000).

Among those "young-earth creationists" are 22% of those with a postgraduate degree, 37% of all college graduates, 44% of those who have had some college, and 47% of those with a high school diploma or less.   This makes some sense, since it should be expected that those with more education would be less likely to accept creationist ideas.   Still, I think the numbers are too high in all education levels.

It comes as no surprise that the political subdivision with the highest percentage of creationists are the Republicans.   Here's how the numbers break down by party affiliation:

REPUBLICANS
Creationists...............52%
God-driven evolution...............36%
Secular evolution...............8%

INDEPENDENTS
Creationists...............34%
God-driven evolution...............39%
Secular evolution...............21%

DEMOCRATS
Creationists...............34%
God-driven evolution...............40%
Secular evolution...............20%