Public Perception of Climate Change
A social scientist measures a shift
A large fraction of the North American public perceives that climate is changing on a global scale, but only a small fraction rank climate change or global warming as the most important public issue to tackle, or are willing to get involved in a direct or personal manner. Stanford University professor John A Krosnick, of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, interpreted his findings to an audience at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, in November.
Krosnick claims his sampling techniques measure a more representative sample of the American public; for example, by dialing phone numbers randomly, he avoids any bias associated with those who do not list their number, or those who offer their number. He claims to use questions that reduce bias associated with loaded phrases.
“What Americans think about climate change”
59% agree a great deal should be done about it;
80% agree reducing air pollution would reduce global warming;
91% would like to see industry required to reduce their pollutants [including carbon emissions?];
50% + are thinking more about global warming now than 9 years ago.
42% to 58% report that they “know a lot” about global warming;
85% report that global warming is happening;
80% perceive it as a threat to future generations.
Krosnick reports a growing partisan division on the perception of climate change. While the number of Republicans who agree that climate change is a serious problem has not changed much, the number of Democrats who so agree has increased substantially. The percentage who rate “global warming” as a serious problem for the nation to handle has changed as well.
Scientists should note that 64% of the public say that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists on whether the climate is changing. Only 7% of the public are “sure” that “we can solve it”; while 41% are somewhat sure. Krosnick identifies a cause for the low percentage who are certain about a solution – there is little agreement in the society that there is a solution to this problem.
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