Table 3. Major characteristics of U.S. adults as segmented by their views on science and society.
| Category | Subcategory | Optimists | Pessimists | Conflicted | Disengaged | Significance |
| Percent of total | 35.9 | 23.3 | 24.6 | 16.2 | ||
| Sex (%) | Female | 50.3 | 54.8 | 54.0 | 49.9 | ?2 = 13.3 |
| Male | 49.7 | 45.2 | 46.0 | 51.1 | ||
| Education (%) | HS or less | 33.2 | 52.6 | 51.5 | 45.4 | ?2 = 284.9 |
| Some college | 27.6 | 25.9 | 26.6 | 25.2 | ||
| College | 19.8 | 12.8 | 12.2 | 15.0 | ||
| Post-College | 19.4 | 8.7 | 9.7 | 14.4 | ||
| Income (%) | <$20,000 | 10.6 | 16.9 | 14.8 | 16.2 | ?2 = 200.7 |
| 20,000–35,000 | 13.1 | 23.7 | 17.5 | 17.1 | ||
| 35,000–50,000 | 18.5 | 18.6 | 20.5 | 17.6 | ||
| 50,000–70,000 | 17.7 | 18.5 | 20.3 | 18.2 | ||
| >70,000 | 40.2 | 22.4 | 26.8 | 31.0 | ||
| Race/Ethnicity (%) | White | 82.3 | 73.4 | 76.7 | 75.7 | ?2 = 52.1 |
| Other | 17.7 | 26.4 | 23.3 | 24.3 | ||
| Age (median) | 43 | 42 | 47 | 40 | F(3, 7070) = 27.4 | |
| Party ID (%) | Republican | 30.2 | 30.2 | 33.6 | 23.9 | ?2 = 52.8 |
| Independent | 31.4 | 37.8 | 30.9 | 38.0 | ||
| Democrat | 38.4 | 32.0 | 35.5 | 38.0 | ||
| Ideology (%) | Liberal | 25.7 | 17.5 | 19.2 | 27.0 | ?2 = 156.5 |
| Moderate | 45.8 | 36.8 | 40.1 | 39.4 | ||
| Conservative | 28.5 | 45.7 | 40.7 | 33.6 | ||
| Abortion (%) | Legal | 90.6 | 74.8 | 83.3 | 83.1 | ?2 = 181.0 |
| Illegal | 9.4 | 25.2 | 16.7 | 16.9 | ||
| Self-rated knowledge | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.7 | F(3, 7192) = 50.5 | |
| ESC support (%) | Yes | 73.6 | 39.4 | 53.2 | 58.7 | ?2 = 475.1 |
| No | 26.4 | 60.6 | 46.8 | 41.3 |
Note: All χ2 and F tests are significant at p<.01. Source: Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Surveys, 2002–2010, N = 8,105. No survey was collected in 2009.