In my post earlier in the week I mentioned the possible relationship between attitudes toward evolution and the causes and likelihood of Global Warming. I haven't seen any survey data myself relating the two, so naturally I wanted to poke into the General Social Survey. Two variables of interest showed up, both from 2006: 1) GWSCI, "Understanding of causes of Global Warming by environmental scientists." A five-point scale, from understanding "Very well" (1) to "Not at all" (5). 2) SCIAGRGW, "Extent of agreement among environmental scientists." A five-point scale, from "Near complete agreement" (1) to "No agreement at all" (5). I paired these up against EVOLVED, which is a simple True vs. False answer in relation the question as to whether "Human beings developed from animals." Tables below. Each row in the following set of tables adds up to 100%. In other words in the first row 55% of Democrats think that environmental scientists understand the cause of global warming "Very well."
Now we'll switch the columns, but again, the rows add up to 100%. So of those who think that environmental scientists understand the cause of global warming "Very well," 55% accept that humans developed from animals.
Environmental scientists understand cause of global warming
Very wellNot at all
12345
Democrat55241443
Independent44212825
Republican39212965
Liberal56241353
Moderate51212512
Conservative33252787
Evolution True53261624
Evolution False43182866
Extent of agreement on global warming among environmental scientists
Near complete agreementNo agreement at all
12345
Democrat17363656
Independent19273888
Republican112641148
Liberal17383187
Moderate13294477
Conservative142739137
Evolution True16363296
Evolution False17293997
Finally, a set of regressions. Since the ones for Global Warming have a 1 to 5 scale I just used a linear regression, while for evolution I used logistic regression (since it's a dichotomous response).
Evolution is
TRUEFALSE
Environmental scientists understand cause of global warming
Very well5545
25842
33664
42872
Not at all3862
Evolution is
TRUEFALSE
Extent of agreement on global warming among environmental scientists
Near complete agreement5048
25644
34654
45248
No agreement at all4754
Weird things happen when I try and relate the Global Warming variables to evolution. Since I gave you the names of the variables I invite you to replicate. I see some relationship in the 2006 GSS, but not a strong one. The dependence of attitudes toward evolution on religious views is pretty direct as expected. Not as clear with the Global Warming issues.
GWSCI
Betap
POLVIEWS0.1580.01
PARTYID0.0870.144
AGE0.0530.293
GOD0.1140.058
BIBLE-0.0280.654
WORDSUM-0.0820.152
DEGREE-0.0210.748
SEI-0.1160.069
R-squared = 0.118
SCIAGRGW
Betap
POLVIEWS0.0850.185
PARTYID0.0620.325
AGE0.0320.557
GOD0.0350.558
BIBLE0.0950.156
WORDSUM0.0310.609
DEGREE-0.1030.132
SEI-0.1380.043
R-squared = 0.053
EVOLVED
Bp
POLVIEWS0.1580.003
PARTYID0.0750.03
AGE0.0160
GOD0.5490
BIBLE-1.1440
WORDSUM-0.030.402
DEGREE-0.0910.174
SEI-0.0080.04
Pseudo R-squared = 0.255
