Republicans and Democrats are more divided over the issue of climate change going into the November election, but support more wind and solar, according to new polling data released Tuesday.
Pew Research said its latest polling on the issue of climate change shows “wide political divides” over the potential devastation global warming will cause to the Earth and “what might be done to address any climate impacts.”
“There are also major divides in the way partisans interpret the current scientific discussion over climate, with the political Left and Right having vastly divergent perceptions of modern scientific consensus, differing levels of trust in the information they get from professional researchers, and different views as to whether it is the quest for knowledge or the quest for professional advancement that drives climate scientists in their work,” according to Pew.
The poll numbers show that Democrats increasingly trust the science when it comes to climate change, seeing the research in a “positive light,” according to the poll.
On the Right, Republicans are far more “skeptical” about the information delivered by climate scientists. Overall, the results show that “understanding and research findings on climate matters.”
Seventy percent of “liberal Democrats” trust climate change scientists “a lot to give full and accurate information about the causes of climate change,” Pew said. That is compared to less than a quarter of “conservative Republicans,” or 15 percent, who trust the science.
Fifty-four percent of liberal Democrats trust climate scientists’ understanding of the causes of climate change, while a mere 11 percent of conservative Republicans believe scientists understand the causes very well. Nineteen percent of moderate-to-liberal Republicans trust that scientists understand the causes of global warming.
“Liberal Democrats, more than any other party/ideology group, perceive widespread consensus among climate scientists’ about the causes of warming,” Pew said. A mere 16 percent of conservative Republicans agree that nearly “all scientists agree on this,” which stands in stark contrast to the 55 percent of liberal Democrats who agree on there being a broad scientific consensus.
The poll also shows that 57 percent of conservative Republicans are much more inclined to say scientific findings on climate change are influenced by a scientist’s or scientists’ “desire to advance their careers.” Fifty-four percent believe they support research that supports “their own political leanings.”
Interestingly, a small sliver of Democrats also reflected views similar to conservative Republicans on research being used to advance careers or political agendas. Sixteen and 11 percent of liberal Democrats said, “either influence occurs most of the time.”
On what to do about combating climate change, there are broad divisions between the parties on President Obama’s climate regulations doing much to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed by many scientists for causing the Earth’s temperature to rise. Strong divisions also persist on the effectiveness of December’s Paris climate change agreement.
The Pew survey points out, however, that regardless of party affiliation, the vast majority of Americans support increasing the amount of wind and solar power in the United States compared to nuclear power, natural gas and all other energy sources.
A whopping 89 percent support moving ahead on solar power. Eighty-four percent support wind power.
That’s compared to the 45 percent of Americans who support offshore drilling, 43 percent who support nuclear reactors, 42 percent who support more fracking and 41 percent who support more coal mining.
The data in the Pew polling survey were collected from 1,534 respondents conducted May 10-June 6. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
