Science and politics are both all about numbers. In science numbers are used to track patterns, statistics, changes in variables etc. In politics numbers are used to count and buy votes.

Science, at least we are told, uses numbers fairly. When the numbers change or are unexpected, science doesn’t change the numbers -- it changes the theory.

In politics we have come to expect the opposite. If the outcome of a certain vote is important, the desired outcome can usually be obtained by changing the numbers …  buying a few more votes.

Politicians also use, or pretend to use, numbers in the polling process. Polls are taken of the people and then politicians, in theory, respond to the wishes of their constituents.

Scientists have traditionally claimed that opinions and polling had nothing to do with science. Whether or not a scientific theory was either true or false depended on the numbers obtained in the experiment, not in the numbers obtained by an opinion poll.

That seems to have changed somewhat in the science of global warming. We are told that scientists have reached a “consensus” that human beings are somehow warming up the planet.

Interestingly, human beings, themselves, are now having some serious doubts about that “consensus.” A recent Rasmussen poll reports:

Only 34% Now Blame Humans for Global Warming: Just one-out-of-three voters (34%) now believe global warming is caused by human activity, the lowest finding yet in Rasmussen Reports national surveying. However, a plurality (48%) of the Political Class believes humans are to blame.

As recently as 2006, significantly more Americans thought the news underestimated the seriousness of global warming than said it exaggerated it, 38% vs. 30%. Now, according to Gallup's 2009 Environment survey, more Americans say the problem is exaggerated rather than underestimated, 41% vs. 28%.