The popular-science blog The Loom has posted a confusing response to a not very clearly phrased poll on evolution recently conducted by the Gallup Poll organization. The poll, which the Gallup organization has been doing periodically for several decades, asked about 1000 people some questions on issues related to evolution. On one question, people were asked:

Just your opinion, do you think that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is –

1. a scientific theory that has been well-supported by evidence;
2. one of many theories and one that has not been well-supported by evidence;
3. don't you know enough about it to say?

35% picked (1), 35% picked (2), 29% picked (3), and 1% made no pick.

The Loom seems to think is possible that (3) should be included among the incorrect answers. But there are many possible reasons why someone might choose (3), such as: complete ignorance, limited prior study time, humility, being fearful of a follow-up question, or being unclear about the question actually means. I think to lump all possible meanings of choosing (3) under the category of simply being "wrong" is misleading.

The Loom gives one possible reason for picking (3) as the respondent being "uninformed". But the question actually asks the respondent if they are informed enough, which is quite a different thing. Someone may have read a lot, and realized that they do not have enough technical background to pick apart the claims and counter-claims.

The Gallup poll questions are a little unclear in places (though admittedly it's hard to phrase a question that's not somehow potentially unclear). For example, the reference to "Charles Darwin's" theory of evolution might throw things off a bit. If the respondent has heard of genetic drift, or punctuated equilibrium (both post-Darwin), or even heard garbled indirect references to such or similar topics, they may reasonably think that (2) sounds closer to an accurate answer.

The other questions in the poll are also unclear. One is:

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings —

1. Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process;
2. human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process;
3. God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so]?

From a Catholic point of view, (1) could be both true and false. True, in that the physical form of our bodies could derive from prior forms of life. False, in that our spirit did not so evolve. (2) can be rejected outright.

(3) is more tricky. Catholic teaching holds that a primary distinction between humans and animals is our possession of a spirit (so that would be a significant component of what would be understood as our "present form"). At what point in history did that first happen? Based on our current scientific picture, half a million years ago would seem too far back. And it seems unlikely that it could be any time more recent than about 50,000 years. Is 50,000 years within the ambit of "10,000 years or so"? If so,  then — paradoxically — a faithful Catholic could happily accept evolution, and still think (3) the closest choice to truth.

Another question in the poll, concerning literalness of the Bible, (which the poll summary puzzlingly calls "Biblical Literacy") is also problematic:

Which of the following statements comes closest to describing your views about the Bible –

1. the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word;
2. the Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally;
3. the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man]?

The best Catholic understanding of how to read the Bible is to take the literal meaning as being defined as the meaning that the author intended. With that usage of the word, both (1) and (2) are almost incoherent questions. (3) is true, but not the whole truth. It remains a puzzle as to which answer to give.