A recent UW-Madison study found that Wisconsin voters' level of political activism on the issue of stem-cell research is more likely to be correlated to political ideology and media exposure than religion.
Dominique Brossard, a UW-Madison professor of life sciences communication who worked on the study, said the report found there are more liberal activists than conservative activists rallying around the issue of stem-cell research.
The study is based on a Badger Poll conducted in July 2006 of randomly selected Wisconsin voters.
Brossard and Amy Becker, a UW-Madison life sciences communication graduate student and co-author of the report, said previous research indicated that religion was more prevalent in forming voters' opinions.
Despite previous findings, UW-Madison professor of political science Charles Franklin said the politicization of stem cell research now divides voters along party lines.
""Even if attitudes towards stem cells originated 15 years ago in some kind of religious orientations, once those became polarized between the parties and the ideological restraints, then this inevitably became something structured along partisan dimensions,"" Franklin said.
He also said because the poll was conducted during an election when stem-cell research was a prominent issue, and one in which ""Gov. Jim Doyle in particular pushed pretty early and hard in the campaign,"" the poll results may not be as relevant today.
""I'd like to see them produce more recent data on it,"" he said.
Although the findings may be somewhat dated, Brossard said the poll results show the effects media have on people's perceptions of scientific issues.
""I think it is encouraging to see that these issues are motivating the public to participate and that I think it is very important for scientists to understand that they need to be present in the public debate,"" Brossard said.
