Well, despite the perception of unconcern noted by luminaries such as Naomi Klein and our very own Meteor Blades, it seems Americans really do want to take on climate change. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 65 percent of Americans support "imposing mandatory controls on carbon dioxide emissions/other greenhouse gases." That includes 82 percent of Democrats and - amazingly - 50 percent of Republicans. Apparently they haven't all been completely brainwashed.
The polling took place March 8-11, 2012, toward the start of an astonishing warm spell that saw 7000 local records broken in the US. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it. One wonders what these numbers would look like had the poll been done two weeks later.
The CO2 question was one of a set of environment/energy questions. Unfortunately there is no timeline on climate opinion.
Joe Romm's take on the latest polling:
I know you’ve heard the established wisdom: The climate bill failed in large part because it lacked public support.
That was never true, as over a dozen polls we reported on in the last 3 years make clear (see them here and below). But that myth became popular because it suited the narrative of both the deniers and do-little centrist crowd and their enablers in the media.
What’s amazing is that even though essentially none of the major national “influencers” in the public arena — the President, Congress, media and so on — has been using their bully pulpit to talk about mandatory controls on carbon dioxide pollution for almost two years now, the public still supports it overwhelmingly.
The current polling says it's OK for politicians to be "brave" about climate.
Come on, guys.