The Pew Research Center has done a survey of both the general public and scientists. The whole thing makes interesting reading but there were a couple of points I wanted to highlight.

The first one concerns using animals for research. I would have thought this one was pretty popular with both groups. You know, the whole “medical research saved my grandmother,” type of thing. While it is very popular with scientists (93%), regular folks were much more skeptical (52%). That’s still a majority but a lot better than I would have guessed.

And the other issue is the effect of regulations on animal research. While I think the regs we currently have are pretty much a joke, that doesn’t stop the other side from trying to get out of them. So do the scientists think the laws are restricting progress? It seems only 27% do.

I’m struck by the fact PETA or HSUS could be commissioning these sorts of polls and it would be very useful information. Much more than a new Holocaust ad or a new happy meat campaign.

The Pew Research Center asked about a thousand adults a dozen questions about the news. Things like who is opposing the Shia in Iraq and who’s the head of the Federal Reserve Board. I took the quiz and got all twelve right. I’m not bragging but 97% of the adults surveyed were not able to do as well. This is a democracy people, we are supposed to be picking the people who run things around here. If we don’t know what’s going on, that’s not a good sign.

Take the quiz here and see how well you do.