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A new Gallup poll on public opinion about evolution suggests that the rate of acceptance of evolution in the United States is "essentially unchanged" over the years. Asked in May 2012 "[w]hich of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings," 32% of the respondents accepted "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process," 15% accepted "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process," and 46% accepted "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so."
The same question has been used by Gallup to poll about evolution since 1982. "Although the percentages choosing each view have varied from survey to survey, the 46% who today choose the creationist explanation is virtually the same as the 45% average over that period — and very similar to the 44% who chose that explanation in 1982. The 32% who choose the 'theistic evolution' view that humans evolved under God's guidance is slightly below the 30-year average of 37%, while the 15% choosing the secular evolution view is slightly higher (12%)." As usual, acceptance of the creationist option was associated with a lower degree of education, a higher rate of church attendance, and affiliation with the Republican party.
According to Gallup, the poll results are "based on telephone interviews conducted May 10-13, 2012, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia"; the samples were weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household and phone status. The maximum range of sampling error for the total sample was +/- 4%. Conveniently, Gallup provides a graph showing the results from its polls using the same question since 1982. A collection of material — including NCSE's coverage, articles from RNCSE, and links — relevant to polls and surveys concerning the creationism/evolution controversy is available on the NCSE website.