The Republican and Democratic Parties hold different positions on the need to address climate change. For instance, the 2016 Republican Party Platform stated: “The central fact of any sensible environmental policy is that, year by year, the environment is improving.” Meanwhile, the 2016 Democratic Party Platform said: “Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time.” Consider a relationship between two variables, party affiliation and knowledge about science on climate change. Which variable should be modeled as the independent variable? Which as the dependent variable?