Ideological Mosaic: Examining Political and Religious Factors in Science Attitudes

This study investigates the complex relationships between political ideology, religiosity, and attitudes towards science among 152 participants recruited from diverse online platforms. Utilizing an online Qualtrics survey, participants provided demographic information, including gender, age, and ethnicity. The survey incorporated various scales measuring Cautious/Social Norm Compliance, Social and Economic Conservatism, Centrality of Religiosity, VAX attitudes, Climate Change attitudes, and Evolutionary attitudes. The linear regression results highlight intriguing findings, such as the presence of conservatives negated the predictive capacity of conservatism from evolutionary beliefs. Instead, religiosity emerged as a key predictor of positive-evolution sentiments. However, in the cases of vaccines and climate change, both lacking a religious foundation, conservatism emerged as the most influential predictor, with temperament following suit. Notably, for climate change, religiosity did not contribute significantly, and for vaccines, anti-science views were solely explained by conservatism, with neither temperament nor religiosity playing a substantial role. An intriguing observation pertains to the prediction of political interest, which was exclusively foretold by temperament in a negative direction, indicating that higher interest is associated with lower temperament levels. This study contributes valuable insights into the nuanced dynamics shaping individuals' attitudes towards science in the context of their political and religious beliefs. Keywords: Political ideology, religiosity, temperament, and attitudes towards science