She blinded me with science!

According to a recent survey by Science magazine, those who are conservative are less likely to believe in evolution. Besides the politically conservative, scientific knowledge also tends to elude those with less formal education, and those who identify themselves as fundamentalist Christians.

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This provides further evidence -- as if any were needed -- that conservatism no longer refers so much to a political or economic ideology, but now has become so conflated with fundamentalism that the two are becoming virtually indistinguishable. This also shows a strong correlation between lack of education and conservatism, which in turns indicates that conservatives tend to be less intellectually curious than liberals.

Sadly, this news will appear to many analogous to "Water is wet!" But the fact is, we have to begin to understand the electorate not in terms of what we, as intellectually curious liberals, believe "should" be the way things are, but instead in terms of how people really are, as a true cross-section of society. There will always be those who blindly support Republicans, no matter how much of a miserable failure they may be. But perhaps the gains made by Democrats recently is a function of a better informed (i.e., better educated) populace, which works for the benefit of all.