Who objects to painful tests on animals?

Gene Expression
By Razib Khan
Jul 14, 2012 4:39 AMNov 19, 2019 11:53 PM

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In the year 2008 1,400 people were asked this question in the GSS:

Scientists should be allowed to do research that causes pain and injury to animals like dogs and chimpanzees if it produces new information about human health problems. (Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree?)

(variable ANSCITST) I was curious because I ran into some stuff on pro-life sites today about how animal rights activist don't oppose abortion, and how hypocritical that is. So naturally I was curious about how attitudes varied on that issue.

Allow animal testing which might case pain

Strongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree

Yes to abortion on demand8313922

No to abortion on demand7323923

What the results above show is that there is almost no difference in attitudes toward animal research when you vary attitudes toward abortion on demand.

In other words, 22 percent of pro-choice people oppose such research strongly, while 23 percent of pro-life people do. How does this vary by demographic?

Strongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree

Male8443414

Female4234231

Liberal6343822

Moderate5323825

Conservative7353820

White6313924

Black7413616

No College Degree6323824

College Degree7363819

Stupid (WORDSUM 0-4)8333822

Average (WORDSUM 5-8)6343625

Smart (WORDSUM 9-10)13294116

Age 18-354344022

Age 36-657323724

Age 66 and up8333920

Protestant6353920

Catholic7323824

Jewish12293623

No Religion7313626

Atheist & agnostic9363321

Theist6333823

Bible Word of God5363920

Bible Inspired Word5323924

Bible Book of Fables10323522

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