Poll: 85% of Americans Want a Presidential Debate on Science
Democrats, Republicans agree on need, disagree on issues; health care tops list
WASHINGTON—May 12, 2008— A new poll shows that 85% of U.S. adults agree that the
presidential candidates should participate in a debate on how science
can be used to tackle America’s major challenges. The poll found no
difference between Democrats and Republicans on this question. A
majority (84%) also agree that scientific innovations are improving our
standard of living.
The poll, commissioned by Research!America and ScienceDebate.org
and conducted by Harris Interactive®, shows that 56% strongly agree and
29% somewhat agree that the presidential candidates should participate
in a debate to discuss key problems facing the United States, such as
health care, climate change and energy, and how science can help tackle
them.
“This topic has been virtually ignored by the candidates, but this poll
shows that Americans of all walks know how important science and
technology are to our health and way of life,” said Shawn Lawrence Otto,
CEO of ScienceDebate.org. “We’ve heard a lot about lapel pins and
preachers. But tackling the big science challenges is critical to our
children’s future – to the future of the country and the future of the
planet. Americans want to know that candidates take these issues
seriously, and the candidates have a responsibility to let voters know
what they think.”
A majority of U.S. adults say that past scientific research has
contributed “a great deal” or “a lot” to their quality of life today
(67%) and that today’s research will continue to do so in the future
(72%). When asked in what areas of their life scientific research plays
the biggest role, top responses were health care (44%) and
communication (20%).
“Americans see the need to invest in science now and want to hear from
presidential candidates where science would stand in their
administration,” said the Honorable John Edward Porter, former
Congressman and chair of Research!America. “Our federal health research
and science agencies have had five years of reduced spending power or
modest increases. It’s time that candidates for the White House step up
to say how they will address this faltering investment in our future.”
Research!America and more than 30 partners have created Your
Candidates—Your Health, a voter education initiative to present
presidential and congressional candidates’ views on health and research
at www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org.
Among the most serious long-term issues facing the country, 76% rate
health care the most serious, followed by alternative energy sources
(69%), education (67%) and national security (61%). Issues also
considered serious by a majority of U.S. adults include global economic
competition (55%), poverty (53%) and climate change (53%).
“This is not a niche debate,” said Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel and
one of the supporters of the Science Debate initiative. “Without the
best education system and aggressive investments in basic research and
development we will become a second rate economic power. We expect the
candidates for president to take this very seriously."
Other findings highlight a desire for public policy to be based on scientific evidence:
• 67% say that public policies should be influenced more by scientific evidence than by elected officials’ personal beliefs.
• 83% of U.S. adults - 88% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans - say
it is important that the candidates talk about how science and
scientific research will affect their policy-making decisions if they
are elected.
• Only 19% say it is acceptable for elected officials to hold back or
alter scientific reports if they conflict with their own views – 16% of
Republicans and 21% of Democrats.
Climate change had the widest partisan split among questions answered,
with 66% of Democrats ranking it among the most serious, while only 33%
of Republicans gave it a top ranking. Global poverty was the next widest
split, with 63% of Democrats ranking it as a top issue while only 41%
of Republicans saw it that way. Third on the list of widest divisions
was education, with 59% of Republicans seeing it as a top issue,
compared to 72% of Democrats.
This survey was conducted by telephone within the United States by
Harris Interactive on behalf of Research!America and
ScienceDebate2008.com between May 2 and May 5, 2008, among 1,003 adults
ages 18+. This survey has a theoretical sampling error of ±3.1% For
complete methodology and to learn more about the poll, visit
www.researchamerica.org or www.sciencedebate2008.com.
About Research!America: Research!America (www.researchamerica.org)
is the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy
alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national
priority.
About Science Debate 2008: Science Debate 2008 (www.sciencedebate.org)
is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of
scientists and other concerned citizens to issue a call for a
presidential debate on science and technology.