Meanwhile, the per centage of the “Alarmed”—Americans who are the most convinced that global warming is happening, is caused by humans and is a serious and urgent threat—has dropped from 18 per cent in 2008 to 10 per cent.
“Gloomy unemployment numbers, public frustration with Washington, attacks on climate science and mobilized opposition to national climate legislation represent a ‘perfect storm’ of events that have diminished public concerns about global warming—even among the Alarmed,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change and a co-author of the report.
Shifts also occurred among the four other groups:
The “Concerned”—Americans who believe global warming is a serious problem and support an active national response, but are less personally involved—have dropped to 29 per cent of the public, down from 33 per cent in 2008.
The “Cautious”—who believe global warming is a problem but not an urgent one, and are unsure whether it is human caused—increased to 27 per cent, from 19 per cent in 2008.
The “Disengaged”—Americans who do not know much about global warming or whether it is happening, and have not thought much about it—decreased to 6 per cent, down from 12 per cent in 2008.
The “Doubtful”—who are not sure whether global warming is happening and believe that, if it is, it is natural and a distant threat—increased slightly to 13 per cent, from 11 per cent in 2008.
Surprisingly, majorities in all six groups say that developing sources of clean energy should be a priority for President Obama and Congress. They also strongly support more funding for research into renewable energy sources and tax rebates for people who buy energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
Regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, which is currently being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency, is supported by almost all of the groups, including 91 per cent of the Alarmed, 93 per cent of the Concerned, 79 per cent of the Cautious, 92 per cent of the Disengaged and 52 per cent of the Doubtful. Only the Dismissive oppose regulation of carbon dioxide, with only 15 per cent supporting the policy.
“The fact that five of the six Americas support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant is bound to be of interest to the president, Congress, and the EPA,” said Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. “Some business groups and other special interests are opposing EPA regulation, but most of the American people appear to be for it.”
The results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,001 American adults, age 18 and older. The sample was weighted to correspond with U.S. Census Bureau parameters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 per cent, with 95 per cent confidence. The survey was designed by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities and conducted from December 24, 2009 to January 3, 2010 by Knowledge Networks, using an online research panel of American adults.
A copy of the report is available at http://environment.yale.edu/climate.
