Why Almost No Scientists Are Republican

[DeSwiss]

The Young Turks * Published on Aug 10, 2014

"A large majority of the public (76%) and nearly all scientists (97%) say that it is appropriate for scientists to become actively involved in political debates on controversial issues such as stem cell research and nuclear power.

Among the public, substantial majorities of Democrats (80%), independents (76%) and Republicans (75%) say it is appropriate for scientists to take an active political role on such issues. While older Americans (those older than 50) and less educated people are somewhat more likely to see scientists’ political involvement as inappropriate, majorities in all major demographic and political groups find this appropriate.

Most Americans do not see scientists as a group as particularly liberal or conservative. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) say they think of scientists as “neither in particular”; 20% see them as politically liberal and 9% say they are politically conservative." The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

* Read more here from Pew Research:
http://www.people-press.org/2009/07/09/section-4-scientists-politics-and-religion/

- Or, put another way: ''Eighty-one percent of scientists think Republicans suck.''


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[SummerSnow]

1. well you have to be smart to be a scientist

[BlueJazz]

2. It's hard to be a Physicist and enjoy a Sara Palin speech. Real, real hard.

[DeSwiss]

7. Also.

[Diclotican]

8. BlueJazz

BlueJazz

Im no Physicist - but my ear is bleeding if I hear a speech or some part of it with Sara Palin - she is horrible and rather stupid....

Diclotican

[BlueJazz]

9. Then you're much smater than the average American. Of course, you knew that,

..being a Democrat.

[Diclotican]

13. BlueJazz

BlueJazz

I'm more of a social-democrat than a straight Democrat - and I suspect I would have been rather "radical" if I had been living in the US...

But yeah - I hope I at least is smart enough to understand that Sara Palin is a scam - a bad scam of that...

Diclotican

[Enthusiast]

15. Except for the comedic value.

But it's mostly just pathetic. I think she's on meth.

[BlueJazz]

18. After reading "I think she's on meth", you got me thinking.

I went across the street, just now, and showed my cop friend the Sara Palin video.

He said "huh..if I had to stop her for speeding or something, and she talked like that, I'd be tempted to ask her to do a drug test"
"She has all the signs"

You may have hit on something that was the proverbial "elephant in the room."

[Enthusiast]

20. Her thoughts seem to clash, like they are at war with one another.

At least that is what her sentences appear to indicate.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I wonder why chemists in particular are more religious than other scientists.

Or if that's somehow an artifact of the polling, and the chemists who answered were non-representative of chemists as a whole.

[DeSwiss]

6. It's the fumes...... n/t

[rock]

4. After all the scientists "facts" might not be the same as our "facts"

Get it?

[DeSwiss]

10. !

[Enthusiast]

16. That is a good one!

Too cerebral for Republicans.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Since scientists are not tax exempt like religious groups, they have a right to be involved.

You want to be involved in political debate? Pay your fucking taxes.

You want to be tax exempt? Shut the fuck up.

[DeSwiss]

11. That last thing.

[Enthusiast]

17. Don't we wish!

[Half-Century Man]

12. Because scientist required a wider scope of vision than

the inner lining of their own colon.
However blindly following the billionaire/corporatist paid for party line requires exactly that field of vision.

[n2doc]

14. I don't believe that number

about that 97% feel that it is ok to get involved in political debates. Maybe if that is, as a private citizen, sure. I know many scientists who strongly believe that their role is to provide facts, without bias, and to absolutely stay out of politics unless they are specifically on a board where politics is part of the job. They strongly dislike the activist scientists, finding them 'attention seekers'. Just my observation here.

I also know a few republican scientists. They are older, and tend to live in a fantasy world where "both sides are at fault" and "liberals are just as extreme as conservatives". Political facts don't sway them, they are just as biased in their beliefs as any Fox viewer. They are still capable of doing good work, and they don't have their politics steer their research interpretations. But they strike me as very politically naive and brainwashed by the media.

[JEFF9K]

19. I use the Pew Study when arguing that Democrats are smarter than Republicans.

Sometimes their comeback will be that scientists depend on government grants.

Then I point out that even in private industry scientists favor Democrat over Republican by 47% to 10%.

[Jerry442]

21. I'm trying to get a handle on the "no" thinking here.

So there are some out there who believe that the people who have the greatest knowledge and the deepest insights into some of the most complex problems and opportunities of our time should not engage in any public debates or advocacy or decision-making because...because....what?!