“Nearly half the people who say they believe in global warming base that on personal observations of the weather.”
The Portland Press-Herald reports:
Americans’ belief in global warming is on the rise, along with temperatures and surprising weather changes, according to a new university poll.
The survey by the University of Michigan and Muhlenberg College says 62 percent of those asked in December think the Earth is getting warmer. That’s up from 55 percent in the spring of that year and 58 percent in December 2010. It’s the highest proportion in two years.
Nearly half the people who say they believe in global warming base that on personal observations of the weather. Climate researchers say that’s reaching the correct conclusion for reasons that aren’t quite right.
When asked an open-ended question about why they thought the Earth was warming, one-quarter of those surveyed pointed to temperatures they experience and another quarter cited other weather changes. One in 7 mentioned melting glaciers and sea ice, and 1 in 8 noted media coverage. Only 8 percent mentioned scientific research…