Public opinion about evolution was reviewed in the National Science Board's Science and Engineering Indicators 2020.
In the 2018 General Social Survey, respondents were asked whether "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals" was true or false; 49% said that it was true. Respondents were also asked whether "the universe began with a big explosion" was true; 38% said that it was true. The report commented, "Both percentages are relatively low compared with scores on most of the other factual information questions in the survey."
Those questions have not been used in the National Science Board's assessment of scientific literacy since 2010, on the grounds that they may measure personal belief rather than scientific knowledge. The report discusses experimental evidence showing that small changes in wording, including not asking about human evolution in particular and asking about what scientists believe, substantially affects the answers to such questions.
Internationally, the United States was next-to-last for the evolution question, ahead only of Russia in 2003, with 44% of respondents correctly answering; Japan in 2011 did the best, with 78% of respondents correctly answering. The United States was in the bottom half of countries for the Big Bang question; Canada in 2013 did the best, with 68% correctly answering, followed closely by South Korea in 2004, with 67% correctly answering.
Unlike most previous editions of Science and Engineering Indicators, the 2020 edition contained no discussion of controversies over teaching evolution.
