Americans’ support
for government action on global warming remains high but has dropped during the
past two years, according to a new survey by Stanford University researchers in collaboration
with Ipsos Public Affairs. Political rhetoric and cooler-than-average weather
appear to have influenced the shift, but economics doesn’t appear to have
played a role.
The survey directed
by Jon Krosnick, a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the
Environment,
shows that support for a range of policies intended to reduce future climate
change dropped by an average of 5 percentage points per year between 2010 and
2012.
In a 2010
Stanford survey,
more than three-quarters of respondents expressed support for mandating more
efficient and less polluting cars, appliances, homes, offices, and power
plants. Nearly 90% of respondents favored federal tax breaks to spur companies
to produce more electricity from water, wind and solar energy. On average, 72%
of respondents supported government action on climate change in 2010. By 2012,
that support had dropped to 62%.
The drop was
concentrated among Americans who distrust climate scientists, even more so
among such people who identify themselves as Republicans. Americans who do not
trust climate science were especially aware of and influenced by recent shifts
in world temperature, and 2011 was tied for the coolest of the last 11 years.
Krosnick pointed out
that during the recent campaign, all but one Republican presidential candidate
expressed doubt about global warming, and some urged no government action to
address the issue. Rick Santorum described belief in climate change as a
“pseudo-religion,” while Ron Paul called it a “hoax.” Mitt
Romney, the apparent Republican nominee, has said, “I can tell you the
right course for America
with regard to energy policy is to focus on job creation and not global
warming.”
The Stanford-Ipsos
study found no evidence that the decline in public support for government
action was concentrated among respondents who lived in states struggling the
most economically.
The study found that,
overall, the majority of Americans continue to support many specific government
actions to mitigate global warming’s effect. However, most Americans remain
opposed to consumer taxes intended to decrease public use of electricity and
gasoline.
