Saturday, December 16, 2017

Republicans and climate change

I was about to post something about how stupid Republicans are when I realized how unfair that would be.  According to polling date, 31% of Republican voters believe that human activities are contributing to global warming.  In urban areas the number is higher; in New York, over half of Republican voters take that position.

What that means, however, is that even in a state like Pennsylvania, there is a good chance that 1/3 of your Republican friends understand and respect scientific findings.  I can’t tar all Republicans with the same brush.  It would be very unfair to call them all stupid.

I can say that about Trump, however.  He thinks the idea of global warming is a Chinese hoax.  I can also say that about Senator Imhofe, who made a snowball in Washington, D.C. and said that refuted the whole idea of global warming.

Here’s the weird thing.  Even though only 1/3 of Republicans believe human activities contribute to global warming, over half think we should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.  (Except in the panhandle of Texas and the state of Wyoming.  No joke.)


Information for this post was taken from Nadja Popovich and Livia Albeck-Ripka, “How Republicans Think About Climate Change,” New York Times, (Dec. 15, 2017), p. A16.

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