When pollsters want to know what issues are on the minds of the public, rarely do they ask about public policy issues related to science. Now once again, we see a lack of interest among pollster in asking science related questions. The latest Test Your Political IQ quiz from the Pew Research Center doesn’t ask one question about important sci-policy issues like global warming, stem cells or evolution.

 

I once asked Andrew Kohut, now President of the Center why such questions were not on the list and he thought about it and said “perhaps we’ll ask you to help write them next time.”

 

That was about ten years ago. I’m not waiting for the phone to ring and I’m not even sure I’m the right person to help out. But it seems that in this age of political polarization about science we do the public a disservice by not including these hot button issues.