More on the Pew Research Report

First rule, always go directly to the source if possible.

That being my philosophy, I went to the Pew Research Council and downloaded the survey about views on Creationsim versus Evolution. It has all kinds of interesting information including the relationship of education to views.

While overall 42% of those polled believed in Creationism while 48% said they accepted Evolution, when educational level is taken into account things break down like this.

Those with H.S. or less – Creationism 50%, Evolution 36%
Those with some college – Creationism 42%, Evolution 51%
Those with a College Degree – Creationism 27%, Evolution 66%

So it’s pretty clear that the more education you have, the less likely you are to hold creationist views.

The only region of the country where the majority held a Creationist view was the South (Why doesn’t this surprise me?).

South – Creationism 51%, Evolution 38%
Midwest – Creationism 42%, Evolution 45%
West – Creationism 36%, Evolution 57%
Northeast – Creationism 32%, Evolution 59%

I wonder where those 32% in the Northeast are because there sure aren't that many in my neck of the woods.

There is still a tremendous misconception about the opinion of scientists with fully 33% saying that no scientific consensus exists while 54% realize that there is significant consensus. One hopeful note is that 46% of those saying they believe in Creationism think there is no consensus among scientists, while 41% realize there is, but apparently don’t care! On second thought, maybe that’s NOT so hopeful.

Another rather interesting finding, although not terribly surprising, was related to what people considered the most important influence on their views on the Development of Life.

Those who believed in Creationism – Religion 60%, Education 9%, Don’t Know 31%
Those who believed in Evolution – Religion 26%, Education 47%, Don’t Know 27%

On a REALLY SCARY note fully 38% felt that the teaching of Creationism should REPLACE the teaching of Evolution!!! Although something doesn’t make a lot of sense here, how the hell (as reported in the survey) could 22% of the folks that accept Evolution think the teaching of Creationism should replace the teaching of Evolution?

In some encouraging notes, the number of people that think Dubyah mentions faith and prayer too much has doubled since July of 2003 from 14% to 28% while support for Faith Based Initiatives, while still pretty strong, has dropped from 75% in March of 2001 to 66%.