Only Six Percent Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll

[Syzygys]

"A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the GOP is alienating scientists to a startling degree.

Only six percent of America's scientists identify themselves as Republicans; fifty-five percent call themselves Democrats. By comparison, 23 percent of the overall public considers itself Republican, while 35 percent say they're Democrats.

The ideological discrepancies were similar. Nine percent of scientists said they were "conservative" while 52 percent described themselves as "liberal," and 14 percent "very liberal." The corresponding figures for the general public were 37, 20 and 5 percent."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_229382.html

[madanthonywayne]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

[Syzygys]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment.

But this is also true for lawyers and doctors and business people, and I bet you, those professionals are Republicans in way more than 6%, so your explanation doesn't stand...

[iceaura]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in.

How would a scientist's educational environment have been any more "extremely liberal" than a chemical engineer's ? A CPA's? A corporate executive's?

[pjdude1219]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

actually I came across a study that said the reason their are more liberals in academia is because the liberal mind set's values make that a more appealing career than the conservative mind set. I've been trying to find it for a couple weeks know to start a thread about this. Only thing I remember about it was it was a husband and wife researchers that were on opposing sides of the political fence.

[Pandaemoni]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

So does that mean that similar numbers of all highly academically trained professions have the same leanings? Economists, lawyers, historians, classicists, mathematicians, political scientists, etc.?

It seems to me that the perceived hostility to the right of the tenets of certain science likely does play some role.

[superstring01]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

I don't buy that.

The Republicans continuously associate themselves with idiotic things like prayer in school, "creationism" and moral crusading, things that scientists usually find distasteful.

The Republicans are writing their own death warrant.

~String

[Repo Man]

No doubt many of those surveyed consider themselves conservative (mostly in the fiscal sense, if not socially) but make pains to distance themselves from the republican brand.

[Pandaemoni]

No doubt many of those surveyed consider themselves conservative (mostly in the fiscal sense, if not socially) but make pains to distance themselves from the republican brand.

Why do you feel that many are "no doubt" fiscally conservative? I don't even know that economists would self-identify as being fiscally conservative on the whole (for every Monetarist there are two Keynesians or neo-Keynesians, after all...and for every Jose Pinera, there's an Amartya Sen and a Paul Krugman. Even the conservatives these days, tend to agree that Keynesianism has key insights, like Greg Mankiw.

[joepistole]

How would a scientist's educational environment have been any more "extremely liberal" than a chemical engineer's ? A CPA's? A corporate executive's?

Yes I would like to know how one teaches a liberal version of chemistry or physics.

[Repo Man]

To define my terms, I mean that many of them would probably classify themselves as fiscally conservative in the sense of preferring smaller government, lower taxes, fewer military entanglements overseas. I think many of the people who think along these lines hesitate to brand themselves as republicans these days.

It's speculation on my part, but I think it's likely that many of the thirty two percent that classify themselves as independents in that survey probably think along those lines.

[Saven]

So does that mean that similar numbers of all highly academically trained professions have the same leanings? Economists, lawyers, historians, classicists, mathematicians, political scientists, etc.?

It seems to me that the perceived hostility to the right of the tenets of certain science likely does play some role.

Correct. It is a statistically documented fact that, on average, the more liberal you are, the more educated you are as well.

[Baron Max]

Correct. It is a statistically documented fact that, on average, the more liberal you are, the more educated you are as well.

Yeah, sure. And you'll also find that all of them were educated at highly liberal universities by highly liberal professors. If all those people had gone to the "University of Hard-Knocks and Reality", do you think they'd have such a liberal attitude?

What it actually tells us is that those people, the educated liberals, are individuals who are highly susceptible to propaganda and readily accept the brainwashing easier and more fully than others.

Baron Max

[Syzygys]

To define my terms, I mean that many of them would probably classify themselves as fiscally conservative

Except that is not Republican and never was....

[Syzygys]

What it actually tells us is that

you don't know shit. It tells us that scientists generally have more brains than average people, specially creationists and that short....

[DRZion]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

True, and many jobs that are made for 'scientists' are found in these same colleges. The discovery of new things is in its nature liberal; conservatives tend to conserve what has already been written as truth.

In other words - conservatives are idiots.

Baron Max- educated people are more easily influenced by propaganda? Only if the propaganda is reasonable.

[Repo Man]

Except that is not Republican and never was....

Barry Goldwater would have disagreed. Party affiliation is never a perfect fit. There is always some ideological compromise, but you are left with choosing from what actually exists.

After his retirement, Goldwater stated some opinions heretical to the modern Republican party ("Gays in the military? Why not, you don't have to be straight to shoot straight."), and was dismissed as a senile old man by them for his trouble.

I virtually always vote for Democrats, even though I have some serious reservations about the Democratic party. But the party of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson cannot be the party for Repo Man.

[joepistole]

Barry Goldwater would have disagreed. Party affiliation is never a perfect fit. There is always some ideological compromise, but you are left with choosing from what actually exists.

After his retirement, Goldwater stated some opinions heretical to the modern Republican party ("Gays in the military? Why not, you don't have to be straight to shoot straight."), and was dismissed as a senile old man by them for his trouble.

I virtually always vote for Democrats, even though I have some serious reservations about the Democratic party. But the party of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson cannot be the party for Repo Man.

I think you bring up a very good point. The Republican Party of Goldwater was a straight shooting party, one worthy of respect...not like the Republican Party of today.

[Nasor]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

Hahaha, and I guess the fact that the republicans decided to make themselves the party that bans the development of useful stem cell lines, push creationism, denies that human activities are increasing global warming, and generally tries to use "because god says so" as an argument doesn't have anything to do with it. Yeah, it's obviously that pesky liberal environment they one finds on college campuses.

[joepistole]

Scientists, by their very nature, have all spent many years in the extremely liberal college environment. The path of least resistance is for them to pick up the political leanings of the environment they find themselves in. So no big surprise here.

Let's keep in mind how Republicans define Liberal. In the Republican lexicon, liberal is anything that does not conform to party policy.

Science and for that matter good insitutions of higher learning care about observed truths, not about party dogma. The Republican Party has proven time and time again, its sole purpose is the acquisition of power and wealth for its financial backers and officials....country and observed truths be damned. So is there any wonder at why science and the Republican Party should be at odds with each other?