One can find quite a lot of popular articles on the topic:<\/p>\n
with wildly diverging conclusions. So what is true? It at these times that we want to take a look at the raw data ourselves. Fortunately, The Audacious Epigone did some legwork for us<\/a>:<\/p>\n
| Item<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | Rep%<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | Dem%<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | Rep. Adv. %points<\/b><\/td>\n | Field<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n| Astrology is not scientific<\/span><\/td>\n | 72.7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 61.3<\/span><\/td>\n | 11.4<\/td>\n | Astronomy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Father, not mother, determines a child’s sex<\/span><\/td>\n | 76.2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 69.4<\/span><\/td>\n | 6.8<\/td>\n | Genetics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Continental drift has and continues to occur<\/span><\/td>\n | 86.5<\/span><\/td>\n | 90.2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -3.7<\/td>\n | Geology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The earth revolves around the sun<\/span><\/td>\n | 81.1<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 76.4<\/span><\/td>\n | 4.7<\/td>\n | Astronomy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Electrons are smaller than atoms<\/span><\/td>\n | 70.7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 68.7<\/span><\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | Physics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Humans evolved from other animals<\/span><\/td>\n | 39.9<\/span><\/td>\n | 57.8<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -17.9<\/td>\n | Biology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Understands the need for control groups in testing<\/span><\/td>\n | 82.3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 80.3<\/span><\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | General<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The earth’s core is very hot<\/span><\/td>\n | 95.3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 93.3<\/span><\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | Geology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Lasers are not made by condensing sound waves<\/span><\/td>\n | 73.2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 61.1<\/span><\/td>\n | 12.1<\/td>\n | Physics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Demonstrates a basic understanding of probability<\/span><\/td>\n | 92.5<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 86.1<\/span><\/td>\n | 6.4<\/td>\n | Math<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Demonstrates a modestly more advanced understanding of probability<\/span><\/td>\n | 80.6<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 76<\/span><\/td>\n | 4.6<\/td>\n | Math<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Not all radioactivity is man-made<\/span><\/td>\n | 87.3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 77<\/span><\/td>\n | 10.3<\/td>\n | Physics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | It takes the earth one year to rotate around the sun<\/span><\/td>\n | 78<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 74.1<\/span><\/td>\n | 3.9<\/td>\n | Astronomy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Antibiotics do not kill viruses<\/span><\/td>\n | 65<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 51.2<\/span><\/td>\n | 13.8<\/td>\n | Medicine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Respondent does not refuse to eat genetically modified foods (2006)<\/span><\/td>\n | 72.6<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 61.4<\/span><\/td>\n | 11.2<\/td>\n | Genetics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Genetics play a substantial role in determining personality (2004)<\/span><\/td>\n | 25.1<\/span><\/td>\n | 26<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -0.9<\/td>\n | Behavioral genetics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Not all radioactivity is fatal to humans (2000)<\/span><\/td>\n | 76<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 67.2<\/span><\/td>\n | 8.8<\/td>\n | Physics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The greenhouse effect is caused by a hole in the earth’s atmosphere (2000)<\/span><\/td>\n | 38.7<\/span><\/td>\n | 42.7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -4<\/td>\n | Climate science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The use of coal and oil contributes to the greenhouse effect (2000)<\/span><\/td>\n | 68.5<\/span><\/td>\n | 74.8<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -6.3<\/td>\n | Climate science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Polar ice caps have shrunk over the last 25 years (2006, 2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 93.4<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 91.8<\/span><\/td>\n | 1.6<\/td>\n | Climate science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The north pole is on a sheet of ice (2006, 2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 57.6<\/span><\/td>\n | 67.7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -10.1<\/td>\n | Climate science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Demonstrates a basic understanding of nanotechnology (2006, 2008, 2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 86.5<\/span><\/td>\n | 88.4<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -1.9<\/td>\n | Nano science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Demonstrates a modestly more advanced understanding of nanotechnology (2006, 2008, 2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 77.4<\/span><\/td>\n | 79.3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | -1.9<\/td>\n | Nano science<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | It is not perpetually dark at the south pole (2006, 2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 89<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 86.2<\/span><\/td>\n | 2.8<\/td>\n | Geology?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Not all artificial chemicals cause cancer (2000)<\/span><\/td>\n | 53.9<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 51.5<\/span><\/td>\n | 2.4<\/td>\n | Medicine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Understands that non-GMO tomatoes still have genetic material (2010)<\/span><\/td>\n | 73.4<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n | 64.6<\/span><\/td>\n | 8.8<\/td>\n | Genetics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | The side with the most gets the boldface. He does a crude count and finds a score of 18-8. The data is based on various waves of GSS, so it should be quite good in terms of sampling.<\/p>\n Since my tweet with these is popular on Twitter<\/p>\n |