Dec 5 2009
Harris Interactive has conducted an online survey of 2,303 adults, between November 2 and 11, 2009, which revealed a sharp reduction of people who believe that emission of carbon-di-oxide and other gases will lead to global warming. Two years ago, 71% of people believed that global warming is due to emission of greenhouse gases and that percentage has dropped to 51% according the poll. The poll results also reveal an increase of people from 23% to 29% who do not believe that global warming is due to carbon-di-oxide emissions since 2007.
Other results from the poll show that 52% are not aware of the fact that the upcoming international conference in Copenhagen is about climate change and global warming. Many people thought it was about something else and not about global warming related issues. Of the people surveyed, only 28% believed that the main topic of the conference was about climate change. About 70% or more of people believed that climate change was due to emissions since 2007, and the significant drop in believers is due to big increase in people who are not sure about the cause, which ranged from 6% in the year 2007 to 21% in the year 2009.
Among the politicians in U.S., 73% of Democrats, 28% of Republicans, and 49% of Independents believe that greenhouse gases are the cause for climate change revealing the polarization of the political parties on the issue. Even though there is a steep drop in the number of global warming believers, 75% are of the opinion that global warming should be treated as a serious problem. Of the people who think global warming as a serious problem, there is a moderate decline from 46%in 2007 to 41% in the year 2009. The difference among political parties is also huge with 63% of Democrats who think that global warming is a serious problem, but only 17% of Republicans and 38% of Independents feel the same.
Leaders will find hard to introduce new policies to reduce greenhouse gases and promote renewable energy sources for generating clean energy due to the sharp decline in people who believe greenhouse emissions are the cause for global warming. In addition, bipartisan renewable energy policies will be difficult to formulate due to the huge differences between Republicans and Democrats.
Source: www.harrisinteractive.com