About origins

Results of public opinion polls
on evolution and creation science

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1987: Beliefs of American earth and life scientists:

According to Newsweek in 1987:

"By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who give credence to creation-science..."

That would make the support for creation science among those branches of science who deal with the earth and its life forms to be about 0.14% ₅

The American public generally believes quite differently.

1982 to 2004: Gallup polls:

The Gallup Organizations periodically asks randomly selected American adults about their beliefs on evolution and creation. They have conducted a poll of U.S. adults on at least six occasions between 1982 and 2004. By keeping the wording of their questions identical, each year's results are comparable to the others. This facilitates the detection of trends. ₁₀

One might expect a gradual increase in support for the creationist view, because of the increasing percentage of older Americans -- the Baby Boomers born shortly after World War II. People tend to be more committed to religion with age. However, support for creationism seems to be stagnant, not growing.

There may be a slight increase in beliefs in naturalistic evolution in recent years.

1991: Gallup Poll showing breakdown by sex, education, etc:

Results for the poll taken between 1991-NOV-21 and 24 were:

These results show how difficult it is for people to maintain their beliefs in creationism in college.

1997: Gallup Poll comparing scientists with the general population:

Note the major differences between the beliefs of the general population and of scientists:

The "scientist" group would presumably include biologists and geologists. But it would also include persons with professional degrees in fields unrelated to evolution, such as computer science, chemical engineering, physics, psychology, business administration, etc.

Political science professor George Bishop of the University of Cincinnati published a paper in 1998-AUG listing and interpreting 1997 poll data.

"Bishop notes that these figures have remained remarkably stable over time. These questions were first asked about 15 years ago, and the percentages in each category are almost identical. Moreover, the profiles of each group has been constant. Just as when these questions were first asked 15 years ago, creationists continue to be older, less educated, Southern, politically conservative, and biblically literal (among other things). Women and African-Americans were more likely to be creationists than whites and men. Meanwhile, younger, better educated, mainline Protestants and Catholics were more likely to land in the middle as theistic evolutionists." ₁

1999: Fox News

During 1999-AUG-25 & 26, Fox News asked what is the more likely explanation for the origin of human life: the theory of evolution as outlined by Darwin and other scientists, or the biblical account of creation. Results were:

	Evolution: 15%
	Biblical creation: 50%
	Both: 26%

This poll reveals the widespread lack of knowledge of theories of origins. In discussing human origins, Darwin described the evolution of apes and humans from an ancient common ancestor. He believed that species can be tracked further back for billions of years until the first form of life appeared: a single cell. The Bible talks about God creating the first two humans -- one man and one woman -- out of mud, independently of other species. The two belief systems are mutually exclusive and cannot be harmonized. ₁₀

2000: Beliefs among some Internet surfers:

The Christianity section of About.com conducted a poll of its readers during 2000-SEP. They listed two responses which more or less agree with the creationist, and theistic evolution beliefs. Their third response, that evolution is a fact, would probably have received the votes of most believers in naturalistic evolution.

Their final option would probably have been selected by some creationists who believe that students should be exposed to all belief systems, and by others who are undecided. Results were:

These results are based on 2,904 votes. The margin of error in this poll is ±1.8 percentage points.

Needless to say, the Internet surfers who responded to the poll are are not necessarily typical of surfers generally, or of the general public. ₇

2005-MAR: NBC News:

NBC News conducted a survey between 2005-MAR-8 and 10. They asked about the origin of human life -- whether it happened by evolution or "the biblical account of creation." If they answered the biblical account, they were then asked whether they believed that "God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh," or that God was "... a divine presence in the formation of the universe."

Results were:

	Humans came to be via evolution: 33%
	God created the world in 6 days: 44%
	God was a divine presence: 13%
	Don't know: 10%

We are at a loss to understand what "God as a divine presence" means as far as origin of the species is concerned.

2005-JUL: Pew Research poll:

Between 2005-JUL-7 and 17, Pew Research asked about the history of humans and other species: whether they "...have existed in their present form since the beginning of time," or have evolved over time." If the subject selected evolution, then they were asked an additional question: whether the evolution was driven by natural processes or guided by a supreme being.

Results were as follows. We have included similar results from a Gallup poll of eight months earlier for comparison:

	Existed in present form only: 42% (Creationist); cf. 45% for Gallup.
	Evolved via natural processes: 26% (Naturalistic evolution); cf. Gallup's 13%
	Evolved via God's guidance:: 18% (Theistic evolution); cf. Gallup's 38% for
	Don't know: 14%

As Benjamin Disraeli once said: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The Pew and Gallup results about creationism were a close match. However, the values for naturalistic evolution differed greatly: the Pew results were twice that of Gallup. On theistic evolution, the Pew results were less than half that of Gallup. This is one of the best examples that we have seen of how the phrasing and structure of a polling question can massively affect the result.

Pew Research suggests that the Gallup Poll gave the subjects three options: pro-God (Creationism), another pro-God (Theistic evolution) and anti-God (Naturalistic evolution). Many respondents might have found the third option distasteful because it would deny the existence of God -- or at least the involvement of God. Only 13% chose this option -- roughly the percentage of people who do not believe in a personal deity. [Many sources quote other Gallup polls as stating that about 94% of people believe in a personal God. This is in error. That result corresponds to whether the person believes in God or a universal spirit.]

Pew's technique is very different. The first question asked was whether the subject believed that humans and other living things "evolved over time" or existed in its "present form since the beginning of time." Here the stress is on humanity; God is not even mentioned. The subject might well be more comfortable answering "evolution."  At this point, the second question would be answered: whether life evolved due to natural processes or God's intervention. Note that Pew described naturalistic evolution "a natural process," while Gallup used the expression "God had no part in." The positive nature of Pew's phrase might well encourage more people to choose naturalistic evolution.

2006: CBS Poll:

A late 2006 poll by CBS showed that:

"Americans do not believe that humans evolved, and the vast majority says that even if they evolved, God guided the process.  Just 13 percent say that God was not involved. ... Support for evolution is more heavily concentrated among those with more education and among those who attend religious services rarely or not at all."

Poll results:

The creationist view seems to have received increasing support when compared to earlier polls. This might be partly because of the elderly who represent a gradually increasing part of the U.S. population. At the same time, support for naturalistic evolution has also increased. The nation may be becoming more polarized as belief in the compromise theistic evolution position -- that evolution happened , but under God's guidance -- has dropped. ₈

By any measure, the United States remains a highly religious nation, compared to other developed countries. American adults tend to hold more conservative beliefs. For example, the percentage of adults who believe that "the Bible is the actual word of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word" is 5 times higher in the U.S. than in Britain. Church attendance is about 4 times higher in the U.S. than it is in Britain. ₁ Similarly, according to one opinion poll, belief that "Human beings developed from earlier species of animals..." is much smaller in the United States (35%) than in other countries (as high as 82%).

2007: Gallup Poll

In the spring of 2007, following an all-candidates meeting of ten Republicans seeking the presidency, three denied a personal belief in evolution. This promoted the Gallup Organization to ask American adults between 2007-MAY-21-24: "Do you, personally, believe in evolution or not." This is one of the poorest polling questions that we have ever seen, because people generally hold one of three beliefs concerning origins:

	Naturalistic evolution: Evolution happened according to purely natural forces and processes without any divine guidance.
	Theistic evolution: Evolution happened and was/is guided by God.
	Creationism: Species were created separately by God.

When a person is asked if they believe in evolution, they might interpret the question as belief in naturalistic evolution only. Alternately, they might consider it as asking whether one believes in either naturalistic or theistic evolution. Pollsters tend to like simple yes and no answers. Sometimes they do not handle questions well where there are three discrete positions.

In addition, some people regard evolution as covering only the development of life forms from the first one-celled animal to the present diversity of plants and animals. Others define the term more widely, and include the origins of the universe, the development of galaxies, stars, planetary systems, development of mountain ranges, continental drift, etc.

The results, for what they are worth are a statistical draw:

	49% believe in "Evolution;"
	48% do not;
	2% have no opinion.

As expected, more highly educated adults believe in "evolution:"

	74% of people with post-graduate degrees believe in "evolution," as do:
	48% of college graduates
	50% of adults with some college
	41% of adults with high school or less.

More frequent attendance at religious services correlated with a lack of belief in "evolution:"

	24% of those who attend weekly believe in evolution, as do:
	52% of those who attend nearly weekly or monthly, and
	71% of those who attend seldom or never.

As expected, political affiliation reflects a difference of opinion on origins:

	Only 30% of Republicans believe in "evolution;" 68% do not.
	61% of independents believe in "evolution;" 37% do not.
	57% of Democrats believe in "evolution;" 40% do not.

The five main reasons why people say they do not believe in "evolution" are their belief Jesus Christ, belief in God, "due to my religion or faith," "not enough evidence," and belief in the Bible. ₉

1999: Beliefs among conservative Christians:

In 1999-NOV, Focus on the Family, a Fundamentalist Christian agency, concluded a poll of their web site visitors concerning their beliefs, mainly about age of the earth. Results were:

	God created the universe, but I don't know when: 46%
	God created the universe thousands of years ago: 43%
	God created the universe billions of years ago: 10%
	Life came into being and evolved on its own: 1%
	I don't have a clue: 0.4% 6

[Author's note: The poll is not particularly well designed; it mixes apples and oranges. The first three options concern when the world came into existence and assumes that God created it. The fourth response concerns evolution of life on earth. A participant in the poll might well believe that God created the world billions of years ago and that life evolved on its own. They would believe in two options, but could mark only one.]

The participants in the poll are self-selected from among the visitors to the Focus web site. They are probably almost exclusively fundamentalist or other evangelical Christian believers.

Beliefs elsewhere in the world:

Belief in creation science seems to be largely a U.S. phenomenon among countries the West. A British survey of 103 Roman Catholic priests, Anglican bishops and Protestant ministers/pastors, perhaps conducted in 1999 showed that:

	97% do not believe the world was created in six days.
	80% do not believe in the existence of Adam and Eve. 4

Why do people hold these opinions?

The Wichita Eagle and the Kansas City Star, surveyed 604 respondents on 1999-OCT-22 to 26. Kansas had been a target of much interest and some ridicule after the state Board of Education dropped the necessity of teaching evolution in its public schools. ₃ Some interesting comments by Kansans were published. As always, beliefs seem to be derived from people's fundamental interpretation of the Bible:

	Auctioneer Gary Corwin said: "I believe that the Lord God created everything, just like the Bible says, I don't think we came from apes." [Darwin was misquoted over a century ago as stating that humans are the descendants of apes. Actually he said that humans and apes had a common ancient ancestor.]
	The National Center for Science Education, which promotes the  teaching of evolution. Spokesperson Eugenie Scott commented: "It goes to the meaning and purpose of life. I think many Americans believe that somehow they are less special to God if they evolved from nonhuman animals." [Author's note: The main alternative to evolution is found in Genesis which states that Adam came from dirt.]
	The Rev. Victor Calcote, pastor of Epworth United Methodist Church in Wichita KS stated: "I believe there is a God that's in control of creation. I've never gotten hung up on how he did it." He added: "I don't appreciate some of the caricatures of Kansans. Just because our school board voted that way doesn't mean we're a bunch of bumbling idiots."

Other related essays dealing with evolution & creation science:

	Overview of evolution and creation science
	3 conflicting world views, and many individual belief systems
	Beliefs held by various faith groups

References used:

1. Johnathan Moore, "What do Americans believe about the origin of species," Public Religion Project, 1998-OCT-12.
2. George Bishop, "The Religious Worldview and American Beliefs about Human Origins" The Public Perspective, 1998-AUG.

3. "Most Kansans for evolution: Majority polled think kids should study, be tested,"  Associated Press, 1999-NOV-9. 

4. News item in ReligionToday for 1999-DEC-29. They quoted the Conservative News Service. Original source of data was not specified.

5. Newsweek magazine, 1987-JUN-29, Page 23.
6. "What do you believe about creation or evolution?," Focus on the Family poll, at: http://www.focusonthefamily.org/
7. "Darwin makes a comeback in Kansas," at: http://christianity.about.com/ The management of this section of About.com has been changed and the poll data was removed.
8. "GOP debate reveals widespread ignorance of science, startling role of how religion is affecting politics, culture," AANews newsletter, 2007-MAY-06.
9. Frank Newport, "Evolution Beliefs," Gallup Organization, 2007-JUN-11, at: http://www.galluppoll.com/
10. "Reading the Polls on Evolution and Creationism," Pew Research Center, 2005-SEP-28, at: http://people-press.org/

Copyright © 1995 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published on 1995-NOV. 
Last update: 2009-FEB-20
Author: B.A. Robinson

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