The Competition for Worldviews: Values, Information, and Public Support for Stem Cell Research

When it comes to public opinion about controversial issues related to science and technology, many policy makers and scientists assume that increased public understanding of science will lead to increased public support. Yet, instead of a fully informed and deliberative public, past research indicates that it is more likely that the public by nature is ‘miserly’, with individuals relying on their value predispositions and only the information most readily available to them from the mass media and other sources in order to formulate an opinion about science controversy. Building on this latter ‘accessibility’ or ‘memory-based’ model of opinion formation, this study tests the relationship between an increase in available information—or increasing ‘awareness’—and public support for embryonic stem cell research. An analysis of national survey data collected in the USA during the fall of 2001 and the fall of 2002 indicates that although an increase in awareness leads to an increase in support for research, both religious and ideological value predispositions strongly moderate the impact of awareness.