Conservatives' Trust in Science at All-Time Low
A new study suggests a growing partisan divide as science plays an
increasing role in policy debates.

A new report suggests the number of conservatives who trust science is
at an all-time low


This may explain some of the rhetoric we've been hearing in GOP stump
speeches of late: The number of conservatives who say they have a "great
deal" of trust in science has fallen to 35 percent, down 28 points from
the mid-1970s, according to a new academic paper.

The study, which was published Thursday in the American Sociological
Review, found that liberal and moderate attitudes toward the topic have
remained mostly unchanged since national pollsters first began posing
the question in 1974, back when roughly half of all liberals and
conservatives expressed significant trust in science.

The peer-reviewed research paper explains: "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."

The man behind the study, UNC Chapel Hill's Gordon Gauchat, says the
change comes as conservatives have rebelled against the so-called "elite."

"It kind of began with the loss of Barry Goldwater and the construction
of Fox News and all these [conservative] think tanks. The perception
among conservatives is that they're at a disadvantage, a minority,"
Gauchat explained in an interview with U.S. News. "It's not surprising
that the conservative subculture would challenge what's viewed as the
dominant knowledge production groups in society—science and the media."

The sociologist suggested that the shift is also likely tied to
science's changing role in the national dialogue. In the middle of the
20th century, science was tied closely with NASA and the Department of
Defense, but now it more frequently comes up when the conversation
shifts to the environment and government regulations.

"Science has become autonomous from the government—it develops knowledge
that helps regulate policy, and in the case of the EPA, it develops
policy," he said. "Science is charged with what religion used to be
charged with—answering questions about who we are and what we came from,
what the world is about. We're using it in American society to weigh in
on political debates, and people are coming down on a specific side."

You can read a more of the interview at U.S. News, a more detailed recap
of the the study over the Los Angeles Times, or check out the full paper
he

US News:

http://tinyurl.com/7nj3pm7

Full paper:

http://www.asanet.org/journals/asr/index.cfm#articles