Ohio Poll: 3 to 1 Margin Supports Teaching Evolution Controversy

DISCOVERY INSITITUTE NEWS ^ | 02/13/2006

[SirLinksalot]

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Ohio 2006 Poll Results Executive Summary

By: Staff
Discovery Institute
February 13, 2006

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This was a telephone survey of Ohio likely voters conducted by Zogby International 2/2/06 thru 2/3/06. The target sample is [601] interviews. The margin of error is +/- 4.1 percentage points.

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Click here to see the complete poll results.

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Which of the following two statements come closest to your own opinion?
A) Biology teachers should teach only Darwin’s theory of evolution and the scientific evidence that supports it.
B) Biology teachers should teach Darwin’s theory of evolution, but also the scientific evidence against it.
C) Neither/Not Sure

In 2006 in Ohio:
A = 19%
B = 68.8%
C = 12%

In 2002 in Ohio:
A = 19%
B = 65%
C = 16


Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statement: “When Darwin’s theory of evolution is taught in school, students should also be able to learn about scientific evidence that points to an intelligent design of life.”
1. Strongly agree 2. Somewhat agree 3. Somewhat disagree 4. Strongly disagree 5. Not sure

In 2006 in Ohio:
1. Strongly agree 56.4%
2. Somewhat agree 19.3% Agree 75.7%
3. Somewhat disagree 5.0%
4. Strongly disagree 13.0% Disagree 18%
5. Not sure 5.9%

In 2002 in Ohio:
Strongly agree 55%
Somewhat agree 23% Agree 78%
Somewhat disagree 3.0%
Strongly disagree 10% Disagree 13%
Not sure 9.0%


Some other interesting findings:

Of those that agreed: Biology teachers should teach Darwin’s theory of evolution, but also the scientific evidence against it.

• 78.6% of Republicans agreed, 58.6% of Democrats agreed, and 67% of Independents agreed.
  
• 70% of men agreed, and 67.8% of women.
  
• 51% had some high school, 69% graduated high school, 67.8% had some college, 70% had college degrees.

Of those that agreed: When Darwin’s theory of evolution is taught in school, students should also be able to learn about scientific evidence that points to an intelligent design of life.

• 84.3% of Republicans agreed, 66.2% of Democrats and 75.2% of Independents agreed.
  
• 73.1 of men agreed, and 78.1% of women.
  
• 67.2% had some high school, 81% graduated high school, 82.5% had some college, 69.6% had college degrees.

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Click here to see the complete poll results.

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Discovery Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy think tank headquartered in Seattle and dealing with national and international affairs. For more information, browse Discovery's Web site at:
http://www.discovery.org.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

pinging God.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

:-)

[editor-surveyor]

Or sunset, depending on where the shot was taken?

[Coyoteman]

Or sunset, depending on where the shot was taken?

The url of the photo is http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/foci/freeman/photo_graphics/pics/sunrise.jpg.

[Elsie]

Well THAT sure led me off for a while!

[curiosity]

You must be speaking of a different Stephen Gould than the one that wrote Wonderful Life, since in that book he plainly stated that Darwin's theory was in complete 180 degree disagreement with the observable fossil evidence.

I very much doubt it. Citation please, with context.

Gould even went so far as to dub the fossil record as a "cone of decreasing diversity" rather than the "cone of increasing diversity that is required by Darwin."

Context please.

[editor-surveyor]

"Context please."

I gave you the context. Read the book for yourself.

[PreciousLiberty]

That is as strong a statement of faith as I have seen.

No, it's a qualitative probability estimate based on observation. Nice try though... ;-)

[dartuser]

So how is Gould's theory a logical fallacy?

Gould's theory is not a logical fallacy ... it is a brilliant display of 'find the nut under the shell' game, with one difference ... there's no nut under there. Gould realized that the fossil record does not contain what Darwin requires ... "innumerable transitional forms." Rather, it contains a record of rapid appearance, stasis, and extinction. Evolution occurs too rapidly to leave any visible remains.

The evo-fundies on FR often maintain that its critical for a 'real' scientific theory to make predictions.

Well Gould had finally come up with the best theory possible to explain evolution ... his theory actually predicts that you won't find any evidence to support it!