Another "traditional" Republican value, that of opposing anything related to science, including climate change denial, may be taking a fall. A new Rasmussen poll taken the day before the election, and reported today, reports that 68% See Global Warming As Serious Problem, a new high.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of Likely U.S. Voters now say global warming is at least a somewhat serious problem, including 38% who think it’s Very Serious. Thirty percent (30%) don’t see global warming as a serious problem, with 12% who think it’s Not At All Serious.
The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 5, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Alana Horowitz who also reports this story notes that Rasmussen's 2009 poll showed that only 46% of Americans thought climate change was a serious issue, and that in 2008 Gallup reported that 48% thought global warming was exaggerated.
Alana Horowitz also speculates that this last year of record extreme weather such as droughts, firestorms, and superstorms, along with statements by famous politicians such as Governor Chris Christie, Mayor Micheal Bloomberg and others may be tipping the scale.
According to Rasmussen, 41% of those who believe in climate change think it's because of human activity. 38% believe global warming is caused by planetary trends.
It's not just American voters that are becoming more convinced that climate change is a real problem. Some Republican politicians are also growing concerned. Earlier this year, New Jersey Governor and once-rumored VP candidate Chris Christie admitted that "climate change is real" and "impacting our state."
As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg put it, "Hurricane Sandy provided a wake-up call about the impacts of climate change. Recent extreme weather and climate events make clear that ignoring climate change will be costly in human, environmental, and economic terms for the United States and the world."
This is yet more challenging news for Tea Party, Republicans, and other's on the right-wing who have opposed climate change and much of everything related to science for reasons that are not entirely clear. Could it be that fundamentalists are trying to undermine science which they perceive as antithetical to their religious based belief? Or, could it be driven more by large donations from the oil and coal industry to Republicans and their operatives in the deep background?
I can't wait to see what "realignments" conservatives make to recover from the fringe-extremist labeling we tagged them with. This one would seem to be a "no-brainer," so to speak. Nothing will suggest "just-plain-stupid," after 2012, than saying nothing strange is going on with our weather and climate. And, for what gain?
8:56 PM PT: Hey, this is my 600 th post since joining up in Oct 24, 2005, after lurking for while. And, I'm coming up to comment 23,000 soon, and just past 26,000 Recs this morning. I wish we counted tips received and given as that would be fun.
Diaries published: 600
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The total comment ratings has been broken for at least a year and half. I'm not even exactly sure what it is, but we should either fix this or take it down. After a year and a half, this is not just lame, and embarrassing for the site, but also misinformation. We should label it as broken, at the minimum. Same for total Mojo rankings which has also been broken.
Whatever... I recommend those of you who are just lurking to join up and take the plunge. Those of you just lurking should comment, and those just commenting should post. It's like entering a time warp and great fun.