CLIMATE CHANGE IGNORANCE, DOUBT GROWS

Americans' Global Warming Concerns Continue to Drop; Multiple indicators show less concern, more feelings that global warming is exaggerated
Frank Newport, March 11, 2010 (Gallup)

"Gallup's annual update on Americans' attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientists themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question.

"…[C]onducted March 4-7…survey results show that the reversal in Americans' concerns about global warming that began last year has continued in 2010…[T]he percentage of Americans who now say reports of global warming are generally exaggerated is by a significant margin the highest such reading in the 13-year history of asking the question. In 1997, 31% said global warming's effects had been exaggerated; last year, 41% said the same, and this year the number is 48%…"

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"Many global warming activists have used film and photos of melting ice caps and glaciers, and the expanding reach of deserts, to drive home their point that global warming is already having alarming effects on the earth. While these efforts may have borne fruit over much of the 2000s, during the last two years, Americans' convictions about global warming's effects have waned.

"A majority of Americans still agree that global warming is real, as 53% say the effects of the problem have already begun or will do so in a few years. That percentage is dwindling, however. The average American is now less convinced than at any time since 1997 that global warming's effects have already begun or will begin shortly…35% say that the effects of global warming either will never happen (19%) or will not happen in their lifetimes (16%)…The 19% figure is more than double the number who held this view in 1997…"

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"…[T]he percentage of Americans who believe that global warming is going to affect them or their way of life in their lifetimes has dropped to 32%…Two-thirds of Americans say global warming will not affect them in their lifetimes…The shift in these views during the past two years has been particularly striking…In a sharp turnaround from what Gallup found as recently as three years ago, Americans are now almost evenly split in their views of the cause of increases in the Earth's temperature…

"The last two years have marked a general reversal in the trend of Americans' attitudes about global warming…[T]he public opinion tide turned in 2009…This year, the downturn is even more pronounced…[This may in part be due to] the publicity surrounding allegations of scientific fraud relating to global warming evidence, and -- perhaps in some parts of the country -- a reflection of the record-breaking snow and cold temperatures… [And] global warming [is] becoming heavily partisan…[It] may be that the continuing doubts about global warming put forth by conservatives and others are having an effect…"