President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have provided their answers to 14 wide-ranging questions about their positions on national science and technology issues, obtained and published Wednesday by Scientific American in partnership with ScienceDebate.org.
The two candidates each offer distinctly different visions of what role the U.S. government should play in spurring research, sci-tech businesses and education. Both expand upon previously stated positions, with Romney generally offering lengthier answers.
Some of the highlights include Romney advocating for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline through the U.S. and offering a more nuanced view on global warming, which he says there is still a lack of scientific consensus on.
Obama repeatedly refers to his 2011 State of the Union pledges, including a “goal of preparing 100,000 additional STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] teachers over the next decade, with growing philanthropic and private sector support” and his ambition of shifting the U.S. over to meet 80 percent of its energy needs from clean, renewable sources by 2035.
All of the answers are worth reading in full over at Scientific American.
