US public split on acceptance of some scientific knowledge

Ars Technica : The Associated Press conducted a survey of more than 1000 people in the US to measure their confidence concerning statements regarding established scientific knowledge. The responses were sorted into three categories: Extremely or very confident, somewhat confident, and not too or not at all confident. The most accepted fact was that smoking causes cancer, with 80% of respondents being extremely or very confident and only 4% in the not-confident category. Opinion on manmade climate change was fairly evenly split among the three categories. Regarding evolution, only 31% of respondents were very confident it occurred, and 42% were not. And while a small majority, 51%, did not accept that the “universe began 13.8 billion years ago with a big bang,” only 36% did not accept that Earth is 4.5 billion years old. The analysis of the survey results suggests that the scientific knowledge that is more readily accepted is often something that people can directly experience, such as cancer, whereas the age of Earth is so far removed from personal experience that it is easier to question.