Voters are overwhelmingly less likely to vote for a candidate who calls climate change a “hoax,” according to a recent poll.
The survey, conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and research group Resources for the Future, gathered opinions from voters related to climate change and politics. It found that an overwhelming majority of voters believe global warming will pose serious problems for the country if nothing is done to curb it, and that Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate who takes climate change seriously. In addition, 78% of respondents, including 60% of self-identified Republicans, agreed that the federal government should act to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by U.S. businesses.
Of note were the responses provided by Republicans, which indicate a shift away from outright climate science denial. While 48% of Republicans were more likely to vote for a candidate who said, “I believe that global warming has been happening for the past 100 years, mainly because we have been burning fossil fuels and putting out greenhouse gasses,” the same number, 48%, were less likely to vote for a candidate who said, “The science on global warming is a hoax and is an attempt to perpetrate a fraud on the American people.” However, politicians who use the “I’m not a scientist” line, an attempt at a non-answer, also scored favorably among Republicans, with 37% saying they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who used similar language regarding climate change.
This comes after a U.S. Senate resolution on climate science passed 98-1, stating that “climate change is real and not a hoax.” Challenges persist, however, in convincing Senate members that human activity causes climate change, with members split about evenly at 50-49. This led a panel of Iowa scientists to publish an editorial in The Des Moines Register further clarifying the general consensus among climate scientists: “We know humans, by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, have altered the climate.”
See the full poll results here: Global Warming: What Should Be Done?
