In my post from March 19 on some international polling results, one of the salient findings was that Americans' consciousness and concern regarding climate change has risen dramatically in the past few years. Two new polls confirm that.
The first, released March 12 from the Yale Center of Environmental Law and Policy's Environmental Attitudes and Behavior Project, says "83 percent of Americans now say global warming is a "serious' problem, up from 70 percent in 2004." Sea Change in Public Attitudes Toward Global Warming Emerges reads the headline for the press release. Further: "Most dramatically, the survey of 1,000 adults nationwide shows that 63 percent of Americans agree that the United States "is in as much danger from environmental hazards, such as air pollution and global warming, as it is from terrorists.'"
The second poll, out this past Monday from Gallup, is subtitled "Public's concern with attention to environment greater than five years ago." Most significantly, to me anyway, is that "the environment has reclaimed the top position on Gallup's ranking of what Americans perceive will be the "most important problem' facing the country 25 years from now." As Mr. Spock would say: "Fascinating."
We should also note the results from last year's Great Decisions "National Opinion Ballot Report" under the category The Energy Policy Conundrum: "Of those participating in our nationwide poll, almost 45% considered the development of alternative energy technologies to be the No. 1 priority for U.S. policymakers struggling with the problem of meeting consumption demands, followed next by the need to control U.S. energy consumption. Over two thirds of FPA's ballot participants are for raising oil and gas prices and increasing fuel taxes for all. More than 80% of the voters feel that corporations should be given tax breaks for developing energy-efficient technologies."
Not incidentally, online ballots will be up in the not-too-distant future for all eight of the Foreign Policy Association's Great Decisions categories for 2007, including climate change. I will flag that here when they're up. Stay tuned.