Those Favoring Stem Cell Research Increases to a 73 to 11 Percent Majority

In 2001, a Harris Poll reported that a 3-to-1 majority believed that stem cell research should be allowed. Three years later, a new Harris Poll finds that this majority supporting stem cell research has increased to more than 6-to-1. Other changes since 2001 are a substantial increase in the number of people who have seen, read or heard about the debate on stem cell research, stronger support for arguments in favor of stem cell research and less support for arguments against it.

These results – if found in the private polling for the Democrats - may explain the decision to feature the strong plea in favor of stem cell research by President Reagan’s son, Ron Reagan, at the Democratic Convention in Boston.

As Democrats looked for issues where large majorities of the public support their positions and oppose those of President Bush, stem cell research must have caught their attention. In this new survey, the big majorities of the public who support their position on stem cell research must look very attractive. Furthermore, big majorities of Republicans and Independents, not just Democrats, support stem cell research.

Having said that, we should note that President Bush has not formally opposed all stem cell research. The law which he supported and signed restricted the use of federal funding (not other funding) for stem cell research to a small number of embryonic stem cell lines. It was a compromise which had the effect of restricting, but not eliminating, stem cell research.

These are some of the results of a nationwide survey of 2,242 adults interviewed online by Harris Interactive® between July 12 and 18, 2004.

The main findings include:

• Those who say they have seen, heard or read about the debate on whether to allow stem cell research have increased from 68% in 2001 to 83% now.
  
• The majority who believe that stem cell research should be allowed has increased from 61% to 21% in favor in 2001 to 73% to 11% in favor now.
  
• This majority support for stem cell research includes almost all Democrats with opinions (80% to 5%) and Independents (83% to 7%) and a large, if smaller, majority of Republicans (60% to 18%).
  
• Those who believe that "using stem cells from human embryos for research comes too close to allowing scientists play God" have fallen sharply from 40% in 2001 to only 19% now.
  
• Those who believe that "allowing any medical research using stem cells from human embryos should be forbidden because it is unethical and immoral" have also fallen sharply from 32% to 15% over the last three years.

The level of opposition to stem cell research varies according to people’s religious beliefs. Those who describe themselves as "very religious" are much more likely to oppose stem research than those who are "not at all" or "not very" religious (23% vs. 4%). Born-Again Christians are more likely to oppose it than are other Christians (21% vs. 9%); and Catholics are somewhat more likely to oppose it than Protestants (15% vs. 10%).

However, clear majorities of all religious groups we analyzed favor stem cell research.

Readers should note that the number of "not sures" are higher in this new survey than they were in 2001. This does not necessarily mean that more people are unsure now than they were in 2001. In this new survey, respondents were offered "not sure" as a possible response. In the 2001 survey, they were not told that this was a choice but they could still give it. The increase in "not sures" is probably a result of this change in the interview.

"Have you seen, heard or read anything about the debate on whether to allow the use of stem cells from human embryos to be used in medical research?"

Base: All Adults

"Stem cells come from embryos left over from invitro fertilization, which are not used and normally destroyed. Many medical researchers want to use them to develop treatments, or to prevent diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. On balance, do you think this research should or should not be allowed?"

Base: All Adults

NOTE: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

"Stem cells come from embryos left over from invitro fertilization, which are not used and normally destroyed. Many medical researchers want to use them to develop treatments, or to prevent diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. On balance, do you think this research should or should not be allowed?"

Base: All Adults

NOTE: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

"Please indicate whether you tend to agree or disagree with the following statements."

Base: All Adults

NOTE: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between July 12 and 18, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,242 adults (aged 18 years and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

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Q805, Q810, Q815