A majority of Donald Trump supporters believe that man-made climate change is real and happening — something in stark contrast to the U.S. presidential candidate’s history of denying global warming, according to a poll released on May 4.
Fifty-six percent of those supporting Trump in the presidential race think global warming is happening. Trump supporters, too, were more likely to back a candidate who strongly backed global warming measures.
The survey, conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication along with the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, probed how supporters of current candidates viewed climate change, how those views will shape their vote, and how they think Americans should address the matter.
Among those voting for John Kasich, the percentage climbed to 71, while a mere 38 percent of Ted Cruz voters believe in man-made climate change. Both of these Republican candidates have since left the race after Indiana’s primary.
“I am not a believer [in man-made climate change], and I will, unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather,” Huffington Post quoted Trump's radio interview last fall.
It goes up and down and again, with changes depending on years and centuries, Trump added, emphasizing “much bigger problems” that the country is facing.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee - I'm in Los Angeles and it's freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2013
On May 2, during a meeting with the editorial board of Washington Post, Trump stuck to his conviction, instead putting the spotlight on nuclear weaponry.
"I think our biggest form of climate change we should worry about is nuclear weapons. The biggest risk to the world, to me – I know President Obama thought it was climate change,” read part of Trump’s statements in the climate change exchange. “We don’t know who has them. We don’t know who’s trying to get them.”
Even though most Trump supporters acknowledge man-made climate change, only 35 percent expressed worry over it – compare that with the 83 percent of Hillary Clinton voters and 80 percent of Bernie Sanders voters who were worried by ongoing warming phenomena.
This poll was conducted in March and covered 1,004 registered U.S. voters, with +/- 3 percentage points as a margin of error.
Photo: Marc Nozell | Flickr
