Evolution and Creationism in Public Education

66% Support Evolution-oriented Positions
(Breakdown)

• 20% say teach only Evolution without any mention of Creationism at all.
  
• 17% say teach only Evolution in science class, however, religious explanations can be discussed in another class (outside of science class).
  
• 29% say Creationism can be discussed in science class, but discussed as a “belief”, not a scientific theory (while Evolution should be taught as a “scientific theory” in science class).

13% Support Treating Evolution and Creationism Equally

• 13% say both Evolution and Creationism should be taught as “scientific theories” in science class.

16% Support Creationism-oriented Positions

• 16% say teach only Creationism (with no mention of Evolution).

5% Are Not Sure
(Breakdown)

• 4% say teach both Evolution and Creationism, but are not sure exactly how to do it.
  
• 1% have no opinion at all on the topic.

Subgroup Differences

As one might expect, there are some significant subgroup differences on this issue. To sum up:

Age
Age is a key differentiator for this issue.

• Young Americans, those aged 18 to 24, are much more Evolution oriented than are seniors (aged 70+). Generation Xers (25 to 34), Boomers (35 to 54) and Silents (55 to 69) fall in between.

Education
Education is also a differentiator for this issue.

• Americans with greater educational attainment show more of an Evolution orientation than do those with less education (though the difference is less extreme than it is with age).

Region
There are differences by region, though they are generally small.

• The Northeast is the most “pro-Evolution” while the South is the least, though the difference is only ten percentage points.

Party ID
While Republicans are slightly less Evolution oriented than are Democrats, the differences are relatively small.

Tables

		Age Groups
	All %	Young Adults (18-24) %	Gen X (25-34) %	Boomer (35-54) %	Silents (55-69) %	Seniors (70+) %
Evolution-Oriented	66	77	60	69	59	47
(Breakdown)
Teach Evolution only	20	26	17	20	18	21
Teach only Evolution in science class, religious explanation for human development in another class	17	22	19	17	15	8
Teach Evolution as “scientific theory”. Creationism can be discussed, but must be discussed as a “belief”	29	29	24	32	26	18

		Educational Attainment
	All %	High School or Less %	Some College %	College Grad %	Post Grad%
Evolution-Oriented	66	60	64	67	71
(Breakdown)
Teach Evolution only	20	17	17	24	24
Teach only Evolution in science class, religious explanation for human development in another class	17	15	17	19	18
Teach Evolution as “scientific theory”. Creationism can be discussed, but must be discussed as a “belief”	29	28	30	24	29

		Regions
	All %	North East %	Central %	West %	South %	Bible Belt %
Evolution-Oriented	66	71	65	62	61	62
(Breakdown)
Teach Evolution only	20	25	19	20	17	16
Teach only Evolution in science class, religious explanation for human development in another class	17	20	17	15	16	16
Teach Evolution as “scientific theory”. Creationism can be discussed, but must be discussed as a “belief”	29	26	29	27	28	30
Note: See appendix for the states that comprise each region.

		Party ID
	All %	Rep. %	Ind. %	Dem. %
Evolution-Oriented	66	62	66	67
(Breakdown)
Teach Evolution only	20	16	20	24
Teach only Evolution in science class, religious explanation for human development in another class	17	17	18	17
Teach Evolution as “scientific theory”. Creationism can be discussed, but must be discussed as a “belief”	29	29	28	26