This report focuses on how Americans (registered voters) across the political spectrum–Democrats, Independents, and Republicans and liberals, moderates, and conservatives–view global warming and how they think citizens and government should address it. Consistent with prior surveys, we find that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be convinced that human-caused global warming is happening, and to think that action is needed. But we also find, similar to the findings in our Spring 2014 politics report , that there is much more going on beneath the surface. One of the most interesting—and consistent—findings is a clear difference between liberal/moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. In many respects, liberal/moderate Republicans are similar to moderate/ conservative Democrats on the issue of global warming, potentially forming a moderate, middle-ground public on the issue. Republicans are not a monolithic block of global warming policy opponents. Rather, Liberal/moderate Republicans are often part of the mainstream of public opinion on climate change, while conservative Republicans’ views are often distinctly different than the rest of the American public. Download the Report Here.
Politics and Global Warming: Fall 2015
