Sunday, July 18, 2021

Democratic, Republican Confidence in Science Diverges — Jeffrey M. Jones

Americans as a whole remain confident in science, but compared with the mid-1970s, a large partisan gap has emerged, with Republicans becoming much less confident at the same time Democrats are becoming more so. It appears that science, like many other issues, has become a politicized topic.

Republican mistrust may stem from conservative thought leaders' allegations of liberal bias in the scientific community, perhaps because colleges and universities employ many scientists. Republicans also mistrust colleges and universities and cite a liberal political agenda as the reason for that lack of trust. A specific recent example of Republican allegations of bias concerned the theory that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a Chinese lab. Many scientists, including Anthony Fauci, initially favored other theories, but the lab-leak theory has gotten more serious consideration in recent months.

Still, Republicans' lack of trust in science opens up the possibility of their being more vulnerable to influence by ideas that lack scientific support, especially if those ideas are advanced by political conservatives they implicitly trust.…
Gallup
Democratic, Republican Confidence in Science Diverges
Jeffrey M. Jones

20 comments:

mi said...

CIA Considered Bombing Miami and Killing Refugees to Blame Castro
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/jfk-docs-cia-plotted-to-bomb-miami-kill-refugees-and-blame-castro-9782696

Unknown said...

I thought Republicans had less confidence in joined-up thinking never mind science.

NeilW said...

The Science isn't science. It's a religion based upon worship of so-called 'experts'.

As Feynman pointed out science is actually the belief in the ignorance of experts.

The last year has shown how many on the left have left science behind and embraced the same sort of "The Science" priesthood that has dominated mainstream economics for years, based upon practically every logical fallacy known to man and suppression of dissent.

The right, who were riven with religious belief to start with, appear to be entering a shark jumping contest with each other.

In the meantime the rational are staying in the bunker until the bombs stop falling. After all it is pointless talking to ideologues. They can't be reasoned with or persuaded.

Matt Franko said...

Neil it’s liberal Art institutions awarding degrees in disciplines that were first established by the Science academe…

eg here in US they award BA in “Physics”…. BA in “Finance and Accounting” BA in “Chemistry “, etc…

So you have Art degree people trying to do science… meanwhile they have never been trained in Science… so they just apply their Socratic/dialogic method to these disciplines and next thing you see people arguing back and forth about matters of these disciplines…

It’s an insult to people properly trained in Science… these people should be banned…

Matt Franko said...

Here:

https://physics.unh.edu/content/ba-physics

“ B.A. in Physics
This program provides an opportunity for a broad and liberal education, which in some cases may be sufficient for graduate work. This program can also be excellent preparation for middle and high school physics teachers, pre-med and pre-law students, and those wishing to pursue a technical career in industry. Because there are fewer required courses than for a B.S., you have to time to pursue other academic interests.”

They don’t train hard/rigorously in Science….slackers and pussies…

Peter Pan said...

The problem with Fauci is that he's as corrupt as a politician. Corruption is the problem with our institutions in general.

lastgreek said...

Matt, so what about a B.A. Physics? His/her degree says B.A. and not B.S., so there is no hiding that or pretending it's a B.S. And if that person wants to obtain a Masters of Physics honours degree, say, they must still have the prerequisite courses completed to enter.


"The last year has shown how many on the left have left science behind and embraced the same sort of "The Science" priesthood."

Gives us an example, preferably with a name of some of these "priests."

This morning there was an evolutionary virologist on CNN explaining why it was highly unlikely that the SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab. Great, a qualified scientist (it's his fuckin' field for heaven's sake) -- and what does the network do? It puts him up against some guy, who was totally unqualified to give an opinion, pushing, without a smidgen of evidence the lab leak theory.

"In the meantime the rational are staying in the bunker..."

Are the rational getting at least vaccinated? I mean, sooner or later they got to come out of the bunker.

lastgreek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lastgreek said...

"BA in “Finance and Accounting”

Here, Matt, I am in total agreement with you -- finance and accounting have no business (maybe a pun?) at the university level.

Then where? They can be introduced at the high school level along with introductory algebra (grade 9). By grade 11 or 12, you're all done with these two courses, and no need to waste precious university resources on two high school level subjects.

I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting (McGill Univ.). Why? It was easy. In other words, I was too stupid for any of the science programs (because too lazy to put in the necessary time and effort) or any programs that required lots of reading like, say,English literature. So accounting it was. That is why I always feel guilty when I say I'm a college graduate.

Matt Franko said...

Anybody good at anything has to train hard…

Matt Franko said...

You don’t just roll out of bed one morning and go out and destroy a 95mph fastball..

NeilW said...

"Gives us an example, preferably with a name of some of these "priests.""

Neil Ferguson, who despite being never right on anything for the last twenty five years is still interviewed by the media about this. He was on again on Sunday. The guy is no better than an astrologer.

Susan Michie - who has been a member of the Communist Party since the 1970s and is unsurprisingly in favour of extreme measures.

Even Chris Whitty. He has his face on cups...

"An expert said this" is meaningless. What matters is the evidence and the data. And any experiments being replicated not 'pal reviewed'.

It's all very familiar from the world of economics. All very Freidman and Krugman referencing 'scientific' documents that are nothing of the sort when you dig into them.


"This morning there was an evolutionary virologist on CNN explaining why it was highly unlikely that the SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab"

The big question is why this thing popped up right next to a lab that does research on coronavirus - given the massive expanse of China to go at. There is no good explanation of that, and the lack of solid data from the lab about procedures is going to require some getting around. If they had good records then they'd be able to exonerate themselves.

"Why there?" is the biggest unanswered question.

The most likely explanation is that the virus came from the lab as a leak but is a natural chimeric recombination brought about by proximity within the lab and the animals they keep in there - possibly even due to the people that were in there with the animals.

We actually want this to be a leak from a lab. That means we can tighten up on it. If things like this pop in the wild all the time then we're in deep trouble.

lastgreek said...

I Agree, Matt -- but, you will still need the right genetics to handle 'dem fastballs.

lastgreek said...

"The most likely explanation is that the virus came from the lab as a leak..."

The only thing with a 100% probability is that nothing is certain. I dunno who said this, but he is 100% right! :)

Matt Franko said...

"Ferguson was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland,[4] but grew up in Mid Wales, where he attended Llanidloes High School.[1] His father was an educational psychologist, while his mother was a librarian who later became an Anglican priest.[1]

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics in 1990 at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in theoretical physics in 1994 at Linacre College, Oxford."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Ferguson_(epidemiologist)

Matt Franko said...

"but, you will still need the right genetics to handle 'dem fastballs."

you can overcome some genetic deficiencies with PEDs... testosterone supplementation... HGH, etc..

Matt Franko said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Science

"The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of London in 1860."

You dont get it at Cambridge or Oxford... they have stuck with Plato and their B.A.

US Land Grant Institutions quickly followed U of London over here...

This was all post Darwin who was at Cambridge iirc...

(I'm a US Land Grant graduate... $1080 per semester back in the day... hence I dont think we are "out of money!" like the Art degree morons do... )

Matt Franko said...

Its all in the training....

Matt Franko said...

If you dont train you cant expect much out of it...

Ryan Harris said...

There was an interesting study that looked at how accurate views of Republicans were of Democrat views and opinions and vice versa. It turns out Republicans are fairly accurate at understanding Democratic partisans but people in Democratic party have a great deal of trouble. The more education and the more news a Democrat follows, the less accurate their perception and knowledge of people on the right and their views. Sort of the opposite of what I'd expect but reading many of the extreme radical left articles posted on MNE, sure seems to be accurate.