50% Now Say Global Warming Caused by Long-Term Planetary Trends, Political Class Strongly Disagrees
Rasmussen Reports
Public skepticism about the officially promoted cause of global warming has reached an all-time high among Americans.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 50% of likely voters now believe that global warming is caused primarily by long-term planetary trends.
Just 34% say climate change is due primarily to human activity, even as President Obama and other world leaders gather at a UN summit to limit the human activity they blame for global warming. Six percent (6%) say there is some other reason for global warming, and 10% are not sure.
Belief that human activity is the primary cause of global warming has declined significantly over the past year. In April 2008, 47% blamed human activity and only 34% named long-term planetary trends as the reason for climate change.
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But most voters say the president has a different view than the one Americans have been developing over the past year. Fifty-one percent (51%) say Obama believes global warming is caused primarily by human activity. Only 23% think the president blames long-term planetary trends.
If that’s the case, the Political Class agrees with the president more than Mainstream voters do. Eighty percent (80%) of the Political Class say human activity is the primary cause of global warming, but 60% percent of Mainstream voters disagree and point the finger instead at long-term planetary trends.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of all voters continue to believe global warming is at least a somewhat serious problem, including 32% who say it’s very serious. But the latter number has declined, too: It’s now down nine points from January and 15 points from April 2008.
Forty-one percent (41%) regard global warming as less of a threat, with 23% who say it’s not a very serious problem and 18% who say it’s not at all serious.
Americans remain evenly divided over how urgent it is to deal with global warming: 43% say we must take immediate action to stop it, but another 43% say we should wait a few years to see if global warming is real before making major changes.
Just 30% of adults say the world is headed toward an irreversible catastrophe if the members of the United Nations fail to deal with global warming. Nearly half (48%) of Americans don’t believe the fate of the world hangs on UN action.
Fifty-two percent (52%) believe there continues to be significant disagreement within the scientific community over global warming, and even more (59%) say it’s at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming.
Forty-four percent (44%) of likely voters say there is a conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. Twenty-five percent (25%) disagree and see no such problem, while 32% are not sure. These findings have been largely consistent all year.
Right now, 71% say stimulating the economy to create more jobs is a bigger priority for U.S. leaders than stopping global warming to protect the environment.
Fifty-five percent (55%) also believe that finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing the amount of energy Americans now consume. Thirty-four percent (34%) say energy conservation is the higher priority. These numbers, too, have changed little over the year.
Also unchanged is the view of 54% of voters say that more nuclear power plants need to be built in the United States. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree.
Voter support for offshore oil drilling remains as strong as it was during last year’s presidential election, but many also continue to believe individual states should be able to stop it off their own coastlines.
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