Evolution confusion a partisan problem

June 11, 2007

With three admitted skeptics of modern biology seeking the Republican presidential nomination (Huckabee, Brownback, and Tancredo), there’s far more interest than usual in evolution and politics. USA Today added to the interest late last week with a report that showed two-thirds of Americans believe “creationism, the idea that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years, is definitely or probably true.”

Gallup followed up today with some pertinent details — including the partisan breakdown.

The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.

Independents and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe in the theory of evolution. But even among non-Republicans there appears to be a significant minority who doubt that evolution adequately explains where humans came from.

In fact, the problem isn’t just that Americans in general are confused, but rather that the GOP is throwing off the curve.

Here’s the breakdown on belief in evolutionary biology by partisan affiliations:

* Dems — 57% believe in evolution, 40% do not

* Independents — 61% believe in evolution, 37% do not

* Republicans — 30% believe in evolution, 68% do not

Granted, the numbers for Dems and Independents aren’t great, but a strong majority of each accept modern science. That’s at least somewhat comforting.

But by more than a 2-to-1 margin, Republicans are on another page of the science textbook altogether.

In the context of the presidential campaign, Democratic strategist Mark Mellman suggested last week that Huckabee, Brownback, and Tancredo are not only wrong, but they’re also making their party look like “a front for the Flat Earth Society.”

But that’s not quite right. Those three are actually right in line with the GOP mainstream, which happens to reject modern science in very large numbers.

Now, frequently when I bring up this topic, I get emails suggesting it doesn’t really matter. Even if most of society embraces bogus science, most Americans aren’t going to pursue careers in science anyway. A limited elite will understand biology, go into the field professionally, and come up with life-saving breakthroughs for the rest of us. I’m an “alarmist” for worrying. After all, most Americans have been rejecting modern biology for a long time, and we’ve still been the premier nation for science for decades.

My response to this is two-fold. First, those limited elite will be less and less inclined to pursue science seriously when their teachers are intimidated into ignoring the underpinnings of biology and their school districts won’t purchase textbooks that convey accurate information, because they’re led (or bullied by) some of the seven-in-10 Republicans who reject evolution. It’s a national problem that isn’t going away.

Second, eventually there’s a tipping point. The competitive advantage the United States has enjoyed is shrinking. At what point does the anti-science push become simply too much of a burden?

Last year, none other than the president used his State of the Union to tell the country that it’s time to take science seriously. “[W]e need to encourage children to take more math and science, and to make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations,” Bush said.

On this the president may be an awful messenger, but the message is right — maintaining our position as a world leader in science will be impossible if the nation rejects scientific truths.

Time to shape up, Republicans.

Even more troubling is the fact that once these idiots reject the scientific consensus on evolution, it’s easier to reject the overwhelming scientific consensus on extremely critical issues like global warming. Once you think the scientific messenger is the problem, you’re going to make your decisions based on things other than science, and that’s dangerous in a million ways.

If enough idiots vote, we’re all in a world of shit.

  • Granted, the numbers for Dems and Independents aren’t great, but a strong majority of each accept modern science. That’s at least somewhat comforting.

    Sorry, not so comforting to me. 40% of Dems don’t believe in evolution? You don’t sound like an alarmist to me at all – that number shocks me. We’re talking 9th grade science here. What, 40% of Dems didn’t make it to 9th grade? As for the 68% of Republicans, I imagine that about that many were home schooled, so I guess the number seems about right.

  • It’s not just a matter of encouraging science, a person’s claims about evolution also show how a person thinks. There are quite a few people that simply don’t like the idea that small changes over millions of years can cause dramatic changes over time, or are (ahem) religiously inclined to think it’s wrong. Putting such biases over evidence is always a dangerous thing and is multiplied exponentially when such a person is running for president.

    Huckabee, Kansas Brownback, and Tancredo may not look like “a front for the Flat Earth Society” to republicans, but they will to most of the rest of the world.

  • “If enough idiots vote, we’re all in a world of shit.”
    Comment by Racerx

    Actually, I think a very large number of the idiots DO vote. The problem is that not enough of the non-idiots vote.

  • Can The Carpetbagger Report at least STOP talking about “believing” in evolution? Evolution is a scientific fact, no matter how many mentally dysfunctional mortals insist otherwise. Do you “believe” that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and boils at 212 degrees? Do you “believe” in gravity? Do you “believe” that the earth revolves around the sun? Do you “believe” that electricity exists? By continuing to thoughtlessly refer to evolution as something people can “believe” in or not, we continue to reinforce the position of those who reject it. Let’s not permit the “non-believers” in evolution to continue to frame the debate by using their misguided terminology.

  • “…maintaining our position as a world leader in science will be impossible if the nation rejects scientific truths.

    Nice sentiment. I don’t think our Multi-National Corporate Overlords give much of a rat’s ass about our position in the world. If a stem cell breakthrough to cure Type 1 Diabetes comes out of a lab in Singapore – So what? As long as the patent can be locked up tight…

    I don’t think Republicans in the Board Room give much thought to the ideology of Creationism and I doubt that anyone will be able to stop a zillion dollar money maker from reaching the marketplace. Ideology is for ‘other people’.

  • Probably some portion of those polled believe in their hearts that evolution exists, but more immediate in their conscious minds, they believe they have to deny it to be a good Christian.

    It’s sort of like trying to have faith that something you know makes perfect sense isn’t true.

  • What, pray, is the Republican counter-argument for Cro-Magnon man, just as a single example? He was plainly not simply a clever ape who learned how to use simple tools – apes do not dress themselves, or have need to do. Yet he lived far outside the comfortable envelope of creationism. This is not a theory or a might-have-been-thisaway. Remains prove, conclusively, not only the existence of Cro-Magnon man, but the niche in time he occupied. You can argue that a polar bear is, well, orange….up to the point that a white polar bear is exhibited, proven to be typical of the species and the rest of the class looks at you to see where you’re going to go from there.

    I can believe there’s something to the mystery of God without faithfully following every dictate of the bible, which in many cases is shrouded in ambiguity anyway. Is that blasphemy? How can such a large group of people willingly mortgage their free will and independent thought to a narrowly-focused set of rules – and then express horror at the Jonestown mass suicide as “crazy cult behavior”?

  • I take just one issue with you, ‘bagger. Proper framing of this ‘debate’ demands you refer to acceptance of evolution, not belief in. People believe in the Cubs, they accept the rules by which the game is played. I don’t believe in gravity and relativity, I accept them as modern physics. See how that works?

  • >> Republican = moron (Tom Cleaver @ #3)

    Tom,
    Cleave = adhere as in “cleave, one to another”
    Cleave = split as in meat cleaver.
    You are your own antynom.
    Cleaver = oxy-moron (yuk yuk).

    BTW, I’m Republican and dismiss your observation as easily as I dismiss the notion that Democrats lack cojones. There is enough diversity in both parties to defy simple classification and more than enough stupidity to embarrass us both.

  • Non-acceptance or “disbelief” in evolution is a result of a small number of Christians insisting that the bible’s account of creation be taken as literally true. Never mind that Jesus often spoke in parables, or that a myth (such as the creation myth of Genesis) should properly be understood as expressing truth — but not LITERAL truth.

    Never mind that the creation myth arguably seems to support evolution: “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, . . . which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, …and God saw that it was good. . . .And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind. . . . (KJV, Genesis 1:20+)

    Life springing from water first, then moving onto land. “[T]he waters bring forth” life.

    In his book “Misquoting Jesus,” Bart D. Ehrman reports that this notion that the Bible is inerrant and literally true is a recent one, springing up from the evangelical movement of the late 1800s.

    Imagine that: for the first 1800 years of Christianity it was possible to believe in the Bible without having to accept that it was 100% literally true.

    Are we getting stupider? Is our children learning?

  • Following up on tenpointtype’s line of analysis:

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The only tipping point that matters:

    There is point at which nonsense gathers so much sway, and dumbs down everything it touches, to such an extent that it controls the future.

    Personally… I think we’ve already reached it.
    The numbers CB quotes speak to that.

    In fact:
    America is in decline.
    You have to have on religious blinders not to see that.
    (Or be a pundit or a politician!)

    And no I won’t give you a litany of data such as which countries are graduating the most scientists…
    Which country has the most HS graduates who can’t write decent English or figure percents.
    Or which country has the most obese people.
    Or which country has the worst health care system.
    Or which country actually lost ground in infant deaths.
    Or which….

    Forget all that.

    Here is all the proof you need:

    Someone as willfully dumb and viciously vile as Bush got elected to be our top vocalizer of new ideas!

    What more evidence do you need?
    Truly….

  • “he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;”

    Does that sound familiar to anyone reading this post?

    This goes against all of modern day science too.

    Look, I am a firm believer in evolution from the Big Bang on. It is the only logical explanation that I know of. Maybe someone will come up with a better theory but evolution seems to be the best available today.

    My point is that by making too big a deal out of this that the Democrats run the risk of pushing Christians, Jews, and Muslims, who comprise a huge majority of this country, to vote for the other guy

  • Asking “do you believe in evolution” is like asking if you believe in gravity? It’s science, belief is for religion. However, my friend doesn’t believe in gravity. He claims the earth just “sucks”.

    Did the questions in the survey make a distinction between animals and “humans” evolving because there is no doubt when it comes to tracing the evolution of animals.
    Most people cannot tell you anything more about evolution than it says “man descended from apes”. But both sides of the evolution discussion should maintain an open mind rather than claim infallible knowledge.

    one of this reflects keFor instance, in evolutionary studies tracing modern man from the apes there is a “missing link” in the lineage between ape and man. It is here that the closed minded, non-scientific, faith based group could interject God’s hand. Even the timing is pretty close to the creationist’s theory, but rejecting modern biology altogether prevents them from seeing universal laws or a structured universal plan.

    As far as how this affects politics and culture, I say that it is much easier too eliminate what can’t possibly be true than to prove what is absolutely right.

    Science is not trying to disprove the existence of God, but some religious beliefs try to censure what can be scientifically proven when it conflicts with long held beliefs. I believe they compliment each other.

    These polls reflect our bias by the questions they ask. Most people can’t tell you what they believe in “detail” just generally speaking. Given more knowledge and detailed questions one might get very different poll results.

  • I wonder if Republicans believe in “revolution” — as in the American Revolution. They seem to think the Constitution is only a theory.

  • The choice is clear. Are we a nation ruled by our ancient brain stem or our evolved cerebral cortex?
    I propose the Republican logo be changed from an elephant to a reptile.

  • Kali,

    Leaping lizards, what a great idea! The mental life of a comic book which is the current group running for the GOP.

  • I think the polls results are probably a little tilted. People who
    like to say that Evolution doesn’t “explain everything” don’t bother me that much.

    What is remarkable are the people who believe that the world is 3,000 years to 10,000 years old. They believe this because they are insecure pathetic whimps who don’t want to accept that they are so totally insignificant that they will live at most 120 years in the life of a universe counted in billions of years.

    They aren’t upset that evolution (and all modern science) displaces God as the creator of the universe. They are upset that evolution (and all modern science) displaces THEM as God’s Greatest Creation.

    If God is truely omniscent and onipotent, whether I am a member of one of 300 generations of Humans or a member of one of 30,00 generations, whether Humans are the only sentient and “Souled” creatures in the universe or whether there are millions wouldn’t matter. God would still attend to me with all the attention I deserve. And I can share that attention with the aliens from Alpha Centarui thank you very much.

  • J Flowers- Since the Republicans believe in practicing intellectual devolution, their logo should regress backwards in time. I’d like to see the woolly mammoth logo for their next convention.

  • If evolutionists want to end the arguments all they have to do is, get their brilliant heads together and assemble a ‘simple’ living cell. This should be possible, since they certainly have a very great amount of knowledge about what is inside the ‘simple’ cell.

    After all, shouldn’t all the combined Intelligence of all the worlds scientist be able the do what chance encounters with random chemicals, without a set of instructions, accomplished about 4 billion years ago,according to the evolutionists, having no intelligence at all available to help them along in their quest to become a living entity. Surely then the evolutionists scientists today should be able to make us a ‘simple’ cell.

    If it weren’t so pitiful it would be humorous, that intelligent people have swallowed the evolution mythology.

    Beyond doubt, the main reason people believe in evolution is that sources they admire, say it is so. It would pay for these people to do a thorough examination of all the evidence CONTRARY to evolution that is readily available: Try answersingenesis.org. The evolutionists should honestly examine the SUPPOSED evidence ‘FOR’ evolution for THEMSELVES.

    Build us a cell, from scratch, with the required raw material, that is with NO cell material, just the ‘raw’ stuff, and the argument is over. But if the scientists are unsuccessful, perhaps they should try Mother Earth’s recipe, you know, the one they claim worked the first time about 4 billion years ago, so they say. All they need to do is to gather all the chemicals that we know are essential for life, pour them into a large clay pot and stir vigorously for a few billion years, and Walla, LIFE!

    Oh, you don’t believe the ‘original’ Mother Earth recipe will work? You are NOT alone, Neither do I, and MILLIONS of others!

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