The GOP Race to Dismiss Science

Jill Lawrence: “The 2016 Republican presidential primaries are already showing signs of turning into a competition to win the title of ‘candidate most dismissive of science.’ As a political strategy, this is as depressing as it is understandable.”

“There’s little to gain and much to lose for the GOP White House hopeful who goes mainstream on science. Take global warming. Only 13 percent of Republicans in an AP-GfK poll in March said they were extremely or very confident that ‘the average temperature of the world is rising, mostly because of man-made heat-trapping greenhouse gases.’ That compares with nearly 55 percent of Democrats and, according to an analysis last year of studies to date, 97 percent of climate scientists.”

“Not to make any assumptions about political expedience, but there is — perhaps coincidentally — an exceedingly short list of possible Republican contenders who accept the scientific consensus that global warming is real and driven largely by human activity. Based on statements from the last few years, the only names on it are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Another dozen or so run the gamut from serious skeptics to outright deniers.”