In a recent survey, voters overwhelmingly accepted that improving the quality of science education is important to the competitiveness of the United States in the global scene — and a majority agreed that there's a lot of room for improvement.

"After a period of declining levels of belief in global warming there appears to be a modest rebound in the percentage of Americans that believe temperatures on the planet are increasing," according (PDF) to the latest National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change.

Almost half — 47% — of Americans surveyed in 2010 agreed that "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals," and 38% agreed that "the universe began with a huge explosion."

A poll of Protestant pastors in the United States found that they "overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people," according to a press release (January 9, 2012) issued by LifeWay Research.

A new poll asked respondents about their views on evolution and climate change, what they regard the scientific consensus on those topics to be, and whether it matters to them whether candidates for president share their views.