Even though roughly half of Americans say something should be done about global warming, two-thirds of them say they oppose a carbon cap-and-trade that would significantly raise energy bills. This comes from a random automated phone poll of 807 adults conducted by Wenzel strategies and last week.
Over 46 percent of respondents said they believe that man-made greenhouse gas emissions will cause a climate catastrophe if nothing is done to stop it. Twenty percent said they did not believe that; and 23.4 percent said they were unsure.
However, when asked if they were willing to “pay significantly higher energy bills in the hope of heading off what some scientists believe to be impending climate change,” 63.6 percent said that they would not. Republicans overwhelmingly said they would not—a ratio of 12 to 1 compared to 3 to 1 among Democrats surveyed.
The percentage of respondents willing to pay much more is 15.2, and 21.2 percent said they were uncertain.
“This dramatizes the decades-old problem that environmental activists have had in pushing for structural change in society to accommodate fears of environmental doom—many people may agree that some long-term harm may befall humanity, but they are much more concerned about the short-term cost,” said pollster Fritz Wenzel.
“After an unusually cold winter followed by a summer where U.S. temperatures have been unusually mild, the urgency to act is clearly waning in the minds of many,” he said.
When it comes to carbon cap-and-trade policy pending in Washington, only 23.7 percent of the respondents support the measure, which would cap the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor that can be produced by each company—violators will be fined and those who do not reach the limit may sell their credits. Nearly 42 percent opposed the legislation and another 35 percent were unsure.
Wenzel Strategies is a public opinion research and media/communications consulting company based in Columbus, Ohio.
Over 46 percent of respondents said they believe that man-made greenhouse gas emissions will cause a climate catastrophe if nothing is done to stop it. Twenty percent said they did not believe that; and 23.4 percent said they were unsure.
However, when asked if they were willing to “pay significantly higher energy bills in the hope of heading off what some scientists believe to be impending climate change,” 63.6 percent said that they would not. Republicans overwhelmingly said they would not—a ratio of 12 to 1 compared to 3 to 1 among Democrats surveyed.
The percentage of respondents willing to pay much more is 15.2, and 21.2 percent said they were uncertain.
“This dramatizes the decades-old problem that environmental activists have had in pushing for structural change in society to accommodate fears of environmental doom—many people may agree that some long-term harm may befall humanity, but they are much more concerned about the short-term cost,” said pollster Fritz Wenzel.
“After an unusually cold winter followed by a summer where U.S. temperatures have been unusually mild, the urgency to act is clearly waning in the minds of many,” he said.
When it comes to carbon cap-and-trade policy pending in Washington, only 23.7 percent of the respondents support the measure, which would cap the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor that can be produced by each company—violators will be fined and those who do not reach the limit may sell their credits. Nearly 42 percent opposed the legislation and another 35 percent were unsure.
Wenzel Strategies is a public opinion research and media/communications consulting company based in Columbus, Ohio.
