Republicans support climate actions taken by President Obama, according to a new poll of American voters.
Stanford University, environmental group Resources for the Future (RFF), and The New York Times sponsored the poll. American voters were questioned on their opinions about dangers versus benefits of global warming, actions taken by government, and what should be done to control the problem.
When asked if global warming will become a serious problem for the United States in the future, 44 percent stated the issue presents a "very serious" problem, while 34 percent described it as "somewhat serious." Just 10 percent of respondents said the issue was "not so serious," the same number that stated the problem is "not serious at all."
Interestingly, when a similar question was asked about the impact of global warming on other nations around the world, 57 percent selected "very serious," while 26 percent said the issue would be "somewhat serious" for foreign nations. This suggests that while Americans believe global warming is a serious issue, they believe the problem will create more havoc in other nations than it will in the United States.
This same attitude seems to extend to people's private lives, as well. Just six percent of Americans believe global warming has hurt them a great deal personally, while seven percent say it has negatively impacted their lives "a lot." A total of 44 percent of participants in the study report that global warming has not hurt them at all on a personal level.
"The American people seem far more unified than our political leadership on the need to address climate change. As often happens, politicians would do well to catch up with the electorate," Phil Sharp, president of RFF, said.
Roughly half of the Republicans surveyed support government action to curtail global warming, the study found. Around two-thirds of respondents said they are more likely to vote for a candidate campaigning on a platform of fighting climate change, compared to an office-seeker who is ignoring the issue. Voters are also less likely to vote for candidates who deny, or question the role of human activities on rising global temperatures.
Tea Party members were found to be the most likely to support a candidate who does not agree with the notion of human-fueled global warming. Around 49 percent of those who ally themselves with the group say such statements would make them more likely to vote for such an office seeker.
"It recruits more Tea Partyers than it repels," Jon A. Krosnick, a political science professor at Stanford University, said.
President Obama recently proposed new regulations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), aimed at reducing American emissions of carbon to the atmosphere. Some Republicans in Congress have attacked these moves as a "war on coal."
In 2012, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. was the only Republican presidential candidate to acknowledge the role of humans in driving climate change.
