Today, Representative Waxman and Senator Whitehouse released new state-by-state data on Americans’ views on climate change, the polling data is from Sanford University's Jon A. Krosnick.
To quote Mr. Waxman:
“This new report is crystal clear,” said Rep. Waxman. “It shows that the vast majority of Americans - whether from red states or blue - understand that climate change is a growing danger. Amerians recognize that we have a moral obligation to protect the environment and an economic opportunity to develop the clean energy technologies of the future. Americans are way ahead of Congress in listening to the scientists.”
“These polls are further proof that the American people are awake to the threat of climate change, and have not been taken in by the polluting industries' conspiracy of denial,” said Sen. Whitehouse. “Now it’s time for Congress to wake up and face the facts: climate change is real; it is hurting our people, our economy, and our planet; and we have to do something about it.”
We should run hard on the issue of climate change in 2014 and 2016. Just about everyone agrees that we need to do something about climate change Thwarting and destroying the climate change enablers is critical..
I did not find the results horribly surprising given that human beings can see perfectly what is going on in their gardens, their local weather, the local and national news on weather related catastrophes.
For fascinating maps of the survey questions.
Percentage of Americans who believe global warming has been happening
Percentage of Americans who believe government should limit greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. businesses
Stanford University Public Opinion Surveys on Global Warming (2013): Should Government Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants?
Percentage of Americans who believe government should reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants (by imposing regulations or offering tax breaks)
These were the Survey QuestionS:
2012-2013: What is your personal opinion? Do you think that the world's temperature probably has been going up over the past 100 years, or do you think this probably has not been happening?
2012: What is your personal opinion? Do you think that the world's temperature probably has been going up slowly over the past 100 years, or do you think this probably has not been happening?
2012: What is your personal opinion? Do you think that the world's temperature probably has been going up over the past 100 years, or do you think this probably has not been happening?
1997-2011: You may have heard about the idea that the world's temperature may have been going up slowly over the past 100 years. What is your personal opinion on this? Do you think this has probably been happening, or do you think it probably has not been happening?
Methodology: For more than a decade, many surveys have measured Americans' opinions about various issues related to global warming. These surveys have involved interviewing truly random samples of the American adult population and have been designed to yield estimates for the country as a whole. Many of these surveys have asked the same questions repeatedly. To generate the state level analysis, Professor Krosnick first combined these surveys, yielding a large number of respondents, selected randomly, for almost every state in the country. Professor Krosnick then applied a statistical modeling procedure to estimate what public opinion would be in each state today. This procedure modeled differences between states, effects of survey mode (e.g., telephone interviewing vs. self-completion of online questionnaires), differences between results obtained by different interviewing firms, and trends in opinions over time. This methodology produced estimates of the results that would be obtained by random digit dialing telephone interviews in 2013.
Note: Data not available for Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.