Who is winning the climate change argument?

Who is winning the climate change argument?


Angus Reid Strategies

Will the public support tough action?

Last week in response to the thread asking for suggestions for possible polling questions several PBers put forward the idea of finding out what the public believed about what for many is the key issue of the age – the extent to which humanity is responsible for climate change.

This is central to all policy development because if human behaviour is to blame then maybe something can be done about it. But what if humanity is not to blame or if climate change is not really happening at all?

As it happened PB’s pollster, Angus Reid, have been running a series of surveys in several countries ahead of the Copenhagen summit and a question along these lines was put to the 2,017 respondents to the British poll. The response to the key question is reproduced above.

The finding that just 47% of the sample agreed that global warming was a fact caused by the actions of humanity is significant and quite worrying for political leaders of all parties. For if fewer than one in two believe how can key policies win pubic support.

The polling took place at a time when the release of the University of East Anglia emails was getting a fair bit of coverage. Maybe that has had an impact.

As we can see the detailed breakdown – it’s older males who are the least likely to believe.

Mike Smithson

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