Yet another poll featuring opinions on evolution is trotted out to sell newspapers. As I’ve mentioned before, these polls are useless and annoying. They do spotlight a stunning ignorance of basic, accepted science, but they have nothing of value to add to the overall discussion.
As a matter of fact, they’re poorly done. Look at question 24: How familiar would you say you are with … evolution and creationism. That’s inane. Anyone who has read a screed against evolution or listened to TV preachers rail on about the evils of evolution might very well consider himself or herself familiar with evolution. But the truth is that they probably aren’t familiar with it at all.
Good quote:
Lawrence Krauss, a physicist and astronomer at Case Western Reserve University, said evolution is an important campaign issue. “Evolution happened whether or not a candidate believes in it,” he said, and presidents shouldn’t let “religious or ideological beliefs trump reality.”
I don’t know that evolution by itself is an important campaign issue, but a candidate’s take on evolution can be a good indicator of whether the candidate will be an advocate for sound science. So far in the presidential debates and interviews, I’m not encouraged.
I like that quote too.
I have told students and others that evolution does not rise or fall based on belief but on evidence. And evolution occurs whether anyone “believes” it or not.
For some reason, however, many Americans seem to think ad populum is a legitimate argument.