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Collection: Word on the Street

US Climate Attitudes: Bigger head, smaller tail

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Today Yale and George Mason released the fifth report from their latest national survey on American climate change attitudes. Overall trends are still looking good. After a sharp decline in public engagement from the fall of 2008 to January 2010, there was a gradual rebound starting in June 2010. This research shows that the rebound in public engagement has continued: “the Alarmed, Concerned, and Cautious audience segments once again comprise 70 percent of the American public, as they did in the fall of 2008.” (Go here for a Six Americas cheat sheet).

The best news is that the Six Americas has experienced a positive shift at both ends—resulting in a better looking beast, one with a bigger head and a smaller tail.

That is to say that the Alarmed (the most concerned, engaged, and ready for action on climate solutions) have grown from 10 percent of the American adult population to 16 percent. At the same time, the Dismissive (that vocal group that doesn’t think climate change is happening and tends to reject the science) have decreased in size, from 16 percent in 2010 to 8 percent in 2012.

The report focuses on perceived benefits and costs of reducing fossil fuel use, policy support, and beliefs about who has political influence. Here are some of the specifics:

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Views of Roe v. Wade at 40

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What better 40th “birthday” present for Roe v. Wade than new polling data showing American support for abortion rights at an all time high.

Seemingly bucking the conventional wisdom of a few years ago, that “support for abortion rights was decreasing, especially among young people,” a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 7 in 10 Americans believe Roe v. Wade should stand—including 57 percent who feel strongly about this. According to the Wall Street Journal, that is the highest level of support for the decision since polls began tracking it in 1989. (For reference: 60 percent said this in 2002; 66 percent said this in 2005.)

For the first time since 2003 (when the question was first asked about legal vs. illegal), a majority maintained that abortion should be legal. And about half of those who believe that abortion should be illegal don’t want to see Roe overturned.

Recent upticks are attributed to more Democrats backing the decision—particularly Hispanics, African-Americans, and women without college degrees. There’s also been a slight increase in support from Republicans. Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the poll with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, noted that controversial remarks on abortion and rape by at least two Republicans, including Senate candidates, as well as a highly charged debate over contraception, likely also shaped these changing attitudes.

Still, Americans’ views are not without their tensions and complexities. As the WSJ explains:

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Impacts Up, Climate Coverage Down

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Over the past year, climate impacts were felt more intensely and more frequently by more people—and Americans took notice. But analyses by DailyClimate.org and Media Matters found declining media coverage of global warming in 2012.

But, take heart, there were a few surprising bright spots in 2012 too.

Keeping us in the dark

It certainly didn’t help that climate change barely came up during the US presidential campaign in 2012, but according to DailyClimate.org’s archive of media coverage, climate change reporting worldwide continued its three-year slide, falling another 2 percent in 2012. The decline was smaller than in past years. But by DailyClimate.org’s reckoning, 2012 still saw the fewest number of published climate stories since 2009.

Media Matters reports that broadcast news outlets devoted very little time to climate change in 2012, following a downward trend since 2009.

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A Big Ball of Climate Confusion?

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A ball of confusion on climate solutions.

A new report on climate change attitudes is out from Yale and George Mason University. There’s good news along with worrisome trends, revealing a bunch of odd inconsistencies in our attitudes. Indeed, I see some serious confusion.

It sounds bad, but I think there’s opportunity here; majorities think something should be done about climate change, but they’re confused when it comes to what to do, how to do it, as well as who should do it. Call me overly optimistic, but I think it leaves us open to bold, confident leadership on climate solutions.

Think of it this way: We may be a ball of confusion, but we’re poised to roll. We simply need speed and momentum—in the right direction. A swift kick is just the thing, but someone has to kick.

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Latino Values and Conservation in Sync in CA

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Refinery in your backyard.

A survey of Latino voters in California, that was released Thursday, finds the same kind of deeply held conservation values that national polling among Latinos has shown. Two-thirds of California’s Latino voters identify as conservationists and the state’s Latino voters overwhelmingly believe that we can “protect the environment and create jobs at the same time.”

In fact, 90 percent of California’s Latino voters believe that the environment and jobs are not at odds, with 69 percent strongly agreeing.

Also notable, nearly all Latino voters in California support energy conservation (96 percent support, 65 percent strongly support) and renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are also extremely popular (91 percent support, 68 percent strongly support).

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Swing Voters and Climate Change

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Casting the vote.

We are hearing a lot these days about a small group of Americans—the approximately 7 percent who remain undecided about which presidential candidate they’ll vote for. So what do these few—but mighty, and mightily sought after by political operatives—think about climate change?

The latest data from Yale Project on Climate Change Communication indicate that a broad majority of undecided likely voters—as well as Obama-leaning voters—know climate change is real and want the United States to do more to address it.

Climate Change Is Bad for You

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I’ve been called a polar bear hater before. It’s because I’m known to plead with climate communicators to please stop talking about them. I don’t hate them. But polar bears are way down on my list of concerns. And I know I’m not alone. Except for a small slice of the population (you know who you are), polar bears aren’t likely to stir most of us to action on climate change.

Now, some health officials and communications experts are saying the symbol for climate impacts should be a child, not a polar bear. As NPR reported earlier this week, epidemiologist George Luber at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most obvious risk from a warming world is killer heat—and children, the elderly and other vulnerable populations are most at risk.

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Clean Energy Cleans Up

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Who likes clean energy?

Maybe a better question to ask is ‘Who doesn’t?’

(Spoiler: The hold outs on this one are more likely to be older, white, well-to-do, and more conservative.)

Recent poll numbers show that when voters’ attitudes are concerned, clean energy cleans up. Healthy majorities of Americans favor a pair of congressional efforts to boost the use of abundant clean energy sources like wind. On the flip side, even bigger majorities (69 percent) oppose federal subsidies for big fossil fuel polluters, including 67 percent of registered Republicans, 80 percent of independents, and 68 percent of Democrats.

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Climate Policy Wins Minds. Hearts Needed.

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Today the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication released the second report from their latest national survey. Reinforcing several polls that show a recent uptick in American concern about climate change, this study (fielded in March) shows that despite more immediately pressing priorities—namely economic ones—Americans are surprisingly open to climate solutions—across party lines.

In fact, Yale/George Mason found that “majorities of Americans say that global warming and clean energy should be among the nation’s priorities.” Americans also say they want more action by elected officials, corporations and citizens themselves. Three quarters—including majorities of Independents, Democrats, and Republicans—support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. And a majority says we should hold fossil fuel companies responsible for all the ‘hidden costs’ of their products.

Of particular note for Sightline audiences and fellow climate hawks, a “majority also say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports a ‘revenue neutral’ tax shift from income taxes to fossil fuels.”

Of course we’ve seen Americans support policy solutions before—at least in their minds. The question now is whether our hearts are really in it—and more importantly, whether our leaders’ hearts are in it too.

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Americans Support Climate and Energy Solutions

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Today the Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University released the first report from their latest national survey of the American public completed in November 2011. This time around, they zeroed in on public support for climate and energy solutions—policies with the potential to get our sputtering economy off the fossil fuel roller coaster for real.

The report, Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in November 2011, finds that “public support for a variety of climate change and energy policies remains high, across party lines.” And even though we haven’t hit the all-time highs of 2008, the numbers remain promising. The word “remain” is key here because most of these findings have been largely steady for the last several years.

What’s new here is that the study also finds that a majority of Americans support a revenue neutral carbon tax if it’s designed in certain ways. As usual, they oppose subsidies for the fossil fuel and ethanol industries.

The big takeaway: The American public supports all kinds of climate and energy policies—even if they cost us something. The big question that inevitably arises: Why aren’t our leaders following the public’s lead?

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