The Evolution of a Survey Question About Evolution

Surveys have generally found that a high proportion of Americans do not believe evolution. For example, 2009 Pew Survey, for instance, found that 31% of Americans rejected evolution. However, Pew began to suspect that the way it was asking the question may be impacting peoples' answers. So, in a survey conducted in the Spring of 2018, it conducted an experiment. Half of the respondents were given this question, which mirrors questions used in previous surveys ("The Evolution of Pew Research Center’s Survey Questions About the Origins and Development of Life on Earth"):

1. Which statement comes closer to your own views, even if neither is exactly right?

a. Humans evolved
b. Humans have always existed in their present form since the beginning of time.

If the respondents answered that humans evolved (and only if), then they were asked this follow-up question:

2. Which of these statements comes closer to your own views, even if neither is exactly right?

a. Humans have evolved over time due to the processes such as natural selection; God or a higher power had no role in this process.
b. Humans have evolved over time due to the processes that were guided or allowed by God or a higher power.

The other half of the respondents were given this single question:

1. Which question comes closest to your view?

a. Humans have evolved over time due to processes such as natural selection; God or a higher power had no role in this process.
b. Humans have evolved over time due to processes that were guided or allowed by God or a higher power.
c. Humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.And the results are startling. 

Using the old dual question approach 31% (the same percentage as in 2009) responded that humans have always existed in their present form. However, using the alternative single question approach, only 18% responded that humans have always existed in their present form. Unsurprisingly, people's view of evolution vary by religious tradition. The following graph breaks the results down by religious tradition ("How highly religious Americans view evolution depends on how they’re asked about it"). It presents the percentage of people within each broad category who "reject" religion according to how the question is asked:

White evangelicals and Black Protestants are still the most likely to reject evolution, but the percentage who do drops dramatically when the second, single question was used.

In short, then, Americans are not as ignorant of science as some believe them to be. In fact, a recent article on 538 confirms as much ("Americans Are Smart About Science"). What is striking is the difference the phrasing of survey questions can make. Unsurprisingly, going forward, Pew intends to use the alternative, single-question format.