Public Opinion About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning

Abstract

Few science and technology–related issues have sparked as much survey attention as the public controversy ov er human embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. Interest groups, advocates, and policymakers on both sides of the debate have taken advantage of poll results to support their claims that the public backs their preferred policy outc omes, and the competing camps have staged ongoing public communication campaigns in an effort to shape public opinion. Journalists have also highlighted the results of these surveys, using poll figures to complement their coverage of who is ahead and who is behind in the competition to decide stem cell–and cloning-related policy (Nisbet, Brossard, and Kroepsch 2003). The study of survey trends detailing public responses to genetic engineering and biotechnology is not new. For example, Singer, Corning, and Lamias (1998) reviewed poll trends specific to genetic testing, gene therapy, and early public reactions to animal and human reproductive cloning. Shanahan, Scheufele, and Lee (2001) examined trends related to agricultural biotechnology, and the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators surveys have tracked public opinion about genetic engineering (broadly defined) since the 1980s (for an overview, see Miller and Kimmel 2001). These previous analyses, however, have not focused speci fically on surveys measuring public reactions either to stem cell or therapeutic cloning research.