This is a report on an epidemiological inquiry. The morbid condition — so to speak — under study could be variously characterized as a deficit of knowledge or a disease of the intellect, one that involves accepting a theological answer to a historical question. Present means of identifying those afflicted do not provide a clear distinction between these two disabilities or mixtures of them. But of the two most useful bodies of data now available — the Gallup Poll and the General Social Survey (GSS) — one puts the emphasis on theology, the other on knowledge of science.

The Wisconsin Badger Poll reports that of 514 state residents surveyed, 50% of them would support a law requiring "the biblical theory of creation as an alternative to the theory of evolution” according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 26, 2003. Fifty percent said yes, 43% were opposed, and 6% had no opinion. The margin of error was reported to be plus or minus 4 points.