Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics

Although Americans generally hold science in high regard and respect its findings, for some contested issues, such as the existence of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion is polarized along religious and political lines. We ask whether individuals with more general education and greater science knowledge, measured in terms of science education and science literacy, display more (or less) polarized beliefs on several such issues. We report secondary analyses of a nationally representative dataset (the General Social Survey), examining the predictors of beliefs regarding six potentially controversial issues. We find that beliefs are correlated with both political and religious identity for stem cell…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: DGE-1252522, NCSE-1537364, SES-0949710
• RJ
  Riksbankens Jubileumsfond