How Did Science, Medicine, and the Environment Do in the Elections?

Overall, it was a pretty good night for science. Voters may have had other issues in mind, but when they re-elected President Obama, they endorsed one of the most scientifically accomplished administrations in U.S. history. Obama has been a great supporter of science education and research; he has appointed science-friendly people to science posts (whichshouldn’t be a big accomplishment but is); and although it wasn’t the first act of his presidency (there’s no shame in losing out to Lily Ledbetter), he did give a great shout-out to science just a few weeks after taking office:

Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health, protection of the environment, increased efficiency in the use of energy and other resources, mitigation of the threat of climate change, and protection of national security.

A win for Obama was a win for science, the environment, and health care.

The election was also an affirmation of the magical powers of math, statistics, and social science research. Well-conducted polls gave Bayesian statistics god Nate Silver the raw data to predict electoral outcomes with satisfying accuracy. Numbers work!