Poll: Just Six Percent of Scientists are Republican
Mon, 07/13/2009 - 00:50 >> CausalCrunch
Rawstory -- A full 87 percent of American scientists see their political alignment as Democrat or Independent, according to a new Pew Research poll.
Surprisingly or not, just six percent declared themselves Republican, and only nine percent overall expressed support of conservative ideology.
From the data summary:
Most Americans do not see scientists as a group as particularly liberal or conservative. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) say they think of scientists as “neither in particular”; 20% see them as politically liberal and 9% say they are politically conservative.
In contrast, most scientists (56%) perceive the scientific community as politically liberal; just 2% think scientists are politically conservative. About four-in-ten scientists (42%) concur with the majority public view that scientists, as a group, are neither in particular.
The scientists’ belief that the scientific community is politically liberal is largely accurate. Slightly more than half of scientists (52%) describe their own political views as liberal, including 14% who describe themselves as very liberal. Among the general public, 20% describe themselves as liberal, with just 5% calling themselves very liberal.
These figures should only be surprising to someone who neglected current events during the Bush administration, which was accused of censoring and intimidating scientists on matters from global warming to medical research and nuclear weapons.
It's safe to say that being treated like an unwanted step-child, along with continued, eye-widening nonsense like this, has not engendered much love of Republicanism in the scientific community.
-- Stephen C. Webster
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Comments
resveratrol ultra
(anonymous user)
scientists
This poll makes sense. To be a scientist you must be open minded. Willing to listen to opposite view with consideration and that's what some call "liberal". Republicans tend to think of themselves as "conservatives" in other words (my own): no advancement, no progressive ideas and above all, no learning. By the way, I am not a republican or a democrat. Theo from impeach!
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