OC Political Pulse finds that 44 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of Tea Partiers say there’s no global warming.
The U.S. is not alone in its skepticism that man contributes to global warming – a 2009 Gallup survey found Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands were other countries where less than half of respondents blamed global warming on human activity.
But there’s a stark difference when you look at who in the U.S. – and Orange County – is responsible for that skepticism. The difference correlates not with education level but with political party affiliation. (Surveys show that the two parties have roughly the same level of education).
Among Orange County Republicans polled, 69 percent say man does not contribute to global warming or that there is no global warming. Among Democrats here, 98 percent say man does contribute to global warming. These findings by the OC Political Pulse poll portray an even starker partisanship than shows up in a Gallup nationwide poll, perhaps because OC Political Pulse participants signed up for the polling project and so may be more politically engaged and ideological than those randomly phoned by Gallup.
Even more striking: Among county Republicans, 44 percent say no global warming is taking place. Among Tea Party identifiers, 54 percent say there’s no global warming. Among anti-illegal immigration activists, 52 percent don’t believe there’s global warming. Among conservative Christians, 41 percent say there’s no global warming while 97 percent of those who identify as progressive Christians say there is global warming and man is contributing to it.
The question is a leading one. It should be “Is human activity responsible for significant global warming?” All the extreme measures being proposed which would destroy western economies are based on exaggerated fry-and-die scenarios. Perhaps people should be asked if they would be prepared to abandon the use of electricity and all the lifestyle advantages it entails(as well as cull the human population by 93 %) in the hope it will prevent such dire scenarios.
“Is human activity responsible for significant global warming?”
The question should be altered and presented to scientists and laymen alike. I propose the following:
“Are Global Average temperatures effected by anthropogenic CO2 emissions measurable by observational and recorded evidence to a statistical significance within the period of recognized global natural warming following the end of the Little Ice Age which has been identified within climate proxies in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres?”