most people in America cannot accurately and distinctly define:
evidence, fact, observation, record, repeatable, accurate, precise, experiment, variable, science, know, think, feel, notion, guess, hypothesis, theory, falsification criterion, prediction, predictive value, et cetera ad nauseam.
in fine: Most Americans lack the basic understanding of science required to differentiate between a valid theory and a mystic dogma dressed up in a cheap lab coat.
Everyone knows the definition of a theory. It's an assumption based on guesswork and presumed conjecture.
I know the definition of "etc ad nauseum:" literally, it's "and so on till I get ill."