But they are not free to dictate the results of science research.
Don't you find it strange that after generations being taught the TOE, the majority still aren't buying it? Wonder why?
The majority of Americans do accept common descent, they just don't accept an atheistic explanation of it. Either way, the fact that so many Americans don't is just a sad testament to the sorry state of science education in this country. Keep in mind also that roughly half of people think that lasers work by focusing sound waves, that electrons are smaller than atoms, and that antibiotics can kill viruses, according to a 2004 NSF survey. One quarter of people didn't know that the Earth orbits the sun. To answer your question, the public doesn't completely buy the theory because they don't understand it.
I honestly don't understand your adamant rejection of evolution, given that you have stated on these threads that you reject the less than 10,000 year-old earth that a literal reading of the Bible requires.