A day after the sixth and final Nobel Prize winner was announced, a plurality of Americans (40%) believe politics plays a role in deciding who is honored.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) disagree in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

The awards are made by Swedish and Norwegian panels designated in the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and nitroglycerin, who created the prizes.

Republicans and unaffiliated voters are much more skeptical than Democrats about the prize selections. While pluralities of Republicans (45%) and unaffiliated voters (49%) believe politics plays a role in the awarding of the prizes, just 29% of Democrats agree. Slightly more Democrats (33%) do not believe politics is a factor.

Republicans were not happy with this year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Paul Krugman, an especially virulent critic of conservative economic policies and a columnist for the New York Times for nearly a decade. A year ago, former Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-global warming efforts.

Conservatives also question why Ronald Reagan was never honored with the Peace Prize for ending the Cold War, but Mikhail Gorbachev was -- in 1990. Mahatma Gandhi was also overlooked. For every distinguished winner like Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa, critics on the right cite recipients such as Yasser Arafat and Jimmy Carter.

A plurality of Democrats (38%) name the Peace Prize as the most prestigious Nobel, as do 30% of unaffiliated voters. Just 17% of Republicans agree, with 36% saying the Nobel for medicine is the most prestigious.

American authors are very seldom recognized with the Nobel Prize for Literature, but U.S. scientists are consistent winners.
Men are more likely than women to believe politics is involved in the award decisions. Half of men (50%) believe this is so, while only 30% of women agree.

A plurality of adults (38%) believes the Nobel Prize is the most prestigious award a person can win, but 32% disagree. Again, Republicans are less likely than Democrats to consider the prize the most prestigious.

But just 38% of adults say they follow news stories at least somewhat closely on the winners each year, while most (60%) say they do not.

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The Nobel Prize for Medicine and the Nobel Peace Prize are considered the most prestigious for 29% of adults. The medicine prize this year was awarded to the two French researchers who discovered HIV in 1983, while the Peace Prize went to former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari for his long experience of diplomacy.

Ten percent (10%) of adults say the prize for physics is most prestigious, followed by economics at eight percent (8%). The literature and chemistry prices are the most prestigious for just three percent (3%) of adults. The survey also found that just one-in-five adults say they are more likely to read a book written by a prize winner.

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