March for Science, Berlin, Germany, April 22, 2017DIANA KWONOpinions are divided about whether April’s marches for science and climate will effect political change, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this month.
Those opinions cleave along political and generational lines, the survey found. For example, 44 percent of respondents think the marches will increase public support for science, while the same percentage said the marches will make no difference. Of Democrats and democratic-leaning Independents, about 60 percent think the marches will increase support for science, and roughly the same percentage of Republicans and republican-leaning Independents anticipate the marches will have no effect. A little more than half of younger adults (ages 18 to 29) expect the marches will make a difference, while a similar percentage of senior citizens (ages 65 and older) think they will not.
“The data speak to the difficulties of making the case for science in the politically polarized environment,” Cary Funk, lead author ...
