At the request of The Associated Press, eight climate and biological scientists graded for scientific accuracy what a dozen top candidates said in debates, interviews and tweets, using a 0 to 100 scale.
To try to eliminate possible bias, the candidates' comments were stripped of names and given randomly generated numbers, so the professors would not know who made each statement they were grading. Also, the scientists who did the grading were chosen by professional scientific societies.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the highest average score at 94. Three scientists did not assign former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley a score, saying his statements mostly were about policy, which they could not grade, instead of checkable science.
Two used similar reasoning to skip grading New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and one did the same for businesswoman Carly Fiorina. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had the lowest score, an average of 6. All eight put Cruz at the bottom of the class.
"This individual understands less about science (and climate change) than the average kindergartner," Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor, wrote of Cruz's statements. "That sort of ignorance would be dangerous in a doorman, let alone a president."
Well they certainly had not problem pegging Ted Cruz.
The rest of the field rounded out like this:
Martin O'Malley: 91
Bernie Sanders: 87
Jeb!: 64
John Kasich: 47
Rand Paul: 48
Carly Fiorina: 38
Marco Rubio: 21
Donald Trump: 15
Ben Carson: 13
Ted Cruz: 6
Does anybody else find it especially interesting that the three candidates with the lowest scores are at the top of the polls in the GOP race?
Ignorance is especially attractive to the republican base.
ReplyDeleteYes, and rewarded.
DeleteThe Republican candidates bank on it.
DeleteAgreed--the front running Republican candidates are using a strategy that says, "You're not doing anything wrong--it's someone else's fault. Blame other people."
DeleteThis isn't a new strategy--it's been used by leaders to distract people from real problems since the beginning of time (see Pakistan, 1930s Germany, Iran, etc.)
I hope this chart goes viral and that it is brought up at debates.
ReplyDeleteBoy, do most of us have the Republican 'wannabees' pegged! They are nothing more than idiots, blowhards, rebel rousers, KKK formation gatherers (Trump), racists, liars - I could go on and on!
My vote will go to Hillary Clinton - the top scorer too! What a gal! She'll knock any of their on their butts in a debate which will be fun to watch.
Correction to 9:28 AM Last paragraph - 'She'll knock any of them on their butts' - - -
ReplyDeleteSo do you think that since the Republican candidate that rates high test, Jeb, will get shunned by his party for believing and understanding climate change? Cause knowing and accepting the science of climate change goes against Republicans' existence!
ReplyDeleteWe gots to support the GOP. They're in Big Oil's pockets, and it's Big Oil supporting ISIS
DeleteI'm convinced that religion is causing dumbing-down of the species.
ReplyDelete++++++++++++
DeleteNot all religions. The Vatican (for all its faults) has an observatory and science advisors to the pope. Many famous physicists were Jewish. Buddhists accept both evolution and climate change. The problem is that the no-nothing head-in-the-sand science denying fundamentalists make the most noise.
DeleteHow would Al Gore score?
ReplyDeleteIs he running?
DeleteHigher than Hillary.
DeleteAs a Marylander, let me say I will be happy to support Martin O'Malley for POTUS in 2024.
ReplyDeleteClinton/O'Malley 2016
Meh, once a repuglican always a repuglican in my view
DeleteClinton/Castro would get my vote and also the southern vote.
11:06, you have no idea what you are talking about.or you are a bald faced liar.
DeletePoll: More Americans trust Clinton than GOP contenders to combat terrorism
Deletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/poll-fight-terrorism-2016-candidates-216145#ixzz3sLfs028h
@11:06
Deleteyou must be a republican since you don't think others should have any opinions. differing than yours.
Hillary's e-mails are a thing of the past. Ex-staffer has filed suit against Gowdy and the Benghazi panel. Those bastards just can catch a break, not that they deserve one.
ReplyDeleteAir Force Reserve Maj. Brad Podliska in his court filing alleged he was fired from his post in June because he took leave for active duty. He also says he was singled out because he refused to focus his investigative work on Clinton and the State Department.
Podliska announced his intent to file suit at the end of September, but in a new twist, Podliska is also alleging that Gowdy illegally defamed him during the public skirmish that erupted after Podliska first went on national TV to accuse the panel of wrongdoing.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/trey-gowdy-sued-brad-podliska-216152#ixzz3sLQVijlh
There is an active FBI investigation underway with regards to her emails, the server, and lying to investigators.
DeleteTed Cruz isn't going to like those results! He thinks he's so smart. Tell me how Carson can make it through medical school then become a well known neurosurgeon yet have no understanding of climate change? I hope this goes viral.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that those with what teachers would consider good passing grades are all democratic candidates and those that flunked are all republican candidates.
ReplyDeleteHow about that. All three Dems and Jeb score way above the 50th percentile.
ReplyDeleteBTW according to current educational standards Jeb! would be far below basic. Sanders would be at proficient and O'Malley and Clinton would be highly proficient.
The rest would simply fail to score.
If that means anything to anyone.
But Jeb!'s score is still a failing grade.
DeleteYes. Jeb!'s score would still be a failing grade.
DeleteBasic would be passing. Then there is below basic which is almost but not quite.
Jeb! Is FAR below basic. If he was an ESL student he would have no command of the English language.
On this scale Ted Cruz would be drooling and playing with the poop in his diapers. On a standardized test you would have to intentionally WORK to score that low, since even if you guessed or simply bubbled pretty patterns on the score sheet, you'd score higher than Ted Cruz just by the laws of chance.