According to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, “Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals.” Furthermore, political affiliation is an important factor that illustrates whether or not—and how—an individual believes in evolution. From The Texas Tribune:

Democrats (28 percent) are less likely than Republicans (47 percent) to think that humans have always existed in their present form and more likely (21 percent to 7 percent) to think humans have developed over millions of years without God’s guidance. About the same percentages of Democrats and Republicans (40 and 36 percent, respectively) believe that evolution took place over time with God’s guidance. Democrat Bill White‘s voters were the most likely to believe in evolution without a divine hand (33 percent); on the Republican side, by comparison, only 6 percent of Rick Perry‘s supporters were in that category.

Has life on earth always existed in its present form? Republicans are more likely to agree (29 percent) than Democrats (16 percent). They’re less likely to believe that life evolved over time with no guidance from God (8 percent to 24 percent). Democrats are slightly less inclined to believe in evolution with a “guiding hand from God” (50 percent to 55 percent).

Republicans are less likely to believe that humans developed from earlier species of animals; 26 percent agree, while 60 percent disagree. Among Democrats in the survey, 46 percent agree that humans evolved from earlier species; 42 percent disagree. Perry’s voters were most hostile to this premise — 67 percent disagree.

About the same numbers of Democrats and Republicans — 43 percent — disagree with the idea that dinosaurs and humans lived on the planet at the same time. Republicans were slightly more likely to agree with the idea (31 percent to 27 percent). Perry had more voters in each group on the GOP side, but Kay Bailey Hutchison had the largest share of voters who believe in that coexistence.

Prindle says the results recall a line from comedian Lewis Black. “He did a standup routine a few years back in which he said that a significant proportion of the American people think that the ‘The Flintstones’ is a documentary,” Prindle says. “Turns out he was right. Thirty percent of Texans agree that humans and dinosaurs lived on the earth at the same time.”

More from The Guardian:

No matter how often they come up, the figures for creationism in the USA still boggle the mind. The latest poll noticed by the National Centre for Science Education, shows that among registered voters in Texas, 51% disagree that humans have evolved from earlier species of animal. Among Republicans, the figure rises to 60%. Low hanging fruit indeed.

The nearest comparable poll is a Gallup one, from 2008. This shows actually higher rates of creationism in the USA as a whole than in Texas, where the religious right is particularly powerful. But it is possible that the prominence of a “Don’t know” question in the Texas poll explains the discrepancy. I suspect myself that all these questions ought also to have a “Don’t care” axis and this suspicion is only confirmed by close study of the Gallup poll.

Two things jump out from that. The first is that creationists are less of a political force than their opponents. This at least was true in 2007, when Gallup asked whether a political candidate would attract more or less votes if they announced that they did not believe in evolution. The differences here between registered voters and all adults were trivial. I both case, more than half didn’t care; at least it would make no difference to their voting intentions (and in a follow-up question, 70% thought a candidate’s views on evolution quite irrelevant). But among those who did care, creationists were outnumbered two to one by evolutionists: 15% of the voters would be more likely to vote for a candidate who espoused creationism, and 29% less likely.

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