Yale law professor Dan Kahan performed a study that analyzed the responses of 2,000 American people. He was trying to determine whether or not those who identify themselves as “Tea Party” types understood science as much as other people. The results embarrassed him.

I’ve got to confess, though, I found this result surprising. As I pushed the button to run the analysis on my computer, I fully expected I’d be shown a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension,” Kahan wrote.

Kahan’s study found that Tea Party people actually were better versed on science than non Tea Party people. The findings met the threshold statistically to be significant.

“But then again, I don’t know a single person who identifies with the tea party,” he said. “All my impressions come from watching cable tv — & I don’t watch Fox News very often — and reading the ‘paper’ (New York Times daily, plus a variety of politics-focused Internet sites like Huffington Post and POLITICO). I’m a little embarrassed, but mainly, I’m just glad that I no longer hold this particular mistaken view.”

Kahan still doesn’t like the Tea Party, but he’s decided he won’t make any more general assumptions about the knowledge of people he disagrees with.

Thanks to POLITICO for this story.