These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Voters Give Mixed Reviews to Global Warming Legislation, But 56% Don't Want To Pay For It
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Most U.S. voters think it is at least somewhat important for Congress to pass major energy legislation aimed at reducing global warming this year - as long as it doesn't cost them more in taxes and raise their utility bills.
But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that while 39% of likely voters favor a major energy bill aimed at reducing global warming, 40% oppose it. Twenty-one percent (21%) more are undecided.
Forty percent (40%) think a major energy bill aimed at reducing global warming will hurt the economy. Thirty-four percent (34%) say such a bill will help the economy, and 15% say it will have no impact.
Voters also have very mixed feelings about how effective any kind of global warming legislation is likely to be. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters say it is possible for government actions to significantly reduce global warming. Forty-two percent (42%) do not believe that to be true. Twenty percent (20%) aren't sure.
Still, 55% of voters rate passage of some kind of anti-global warming bill this year as at least somewhat important. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree. Those figures include 33% who say it's very important and 22% who say it's not at all important.
However, 56% of all voters say they are not willing to pay anything more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming. This level of opposition remains unchanged from July of last year .
Nineteen percent (19%) are willing to pay $100 more a year in taxes and utility costs, while only 18% are willing to pay $300 or more annually.
Democratic and Republican positions on all these questions are mirror images of the other.
Sixty-six percent (66%) of Democrats, for example, favor a major energy bill aimed at reducing global warming. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Republicans oppose it. Among unaffiliated voters, 33% favor the legislation, while 48% are opposed.
Sixty-five percent (65%) of voters in the president's party say a major energy bill will help the economy, but 61% of GOP voters and 51% of unaffiliateds say it will hurt the economy.
Sixty-three percent (63%) of Democrats think it is possible for government actins to significantly reduce global warming. The identical number of Republicans (63%) disagree, as do the plurality (49%) of unaffiliated voters.
The differences between Mainstream voters and the Political Class on the questions are just as sharp, with the latter strongly in favor of anti-global warming legislation.
Americans in general are a bit less concerned about global warming these days, but 87% of Democrats think passage of a bill this year is important. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans feel otherwise. Voters not affiliated with either party are almost evenly divided on the question.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans now believe there is a significant disagreement within the scientific community over global warming , up seven points from early December just after the so-called "Climategate" scandal involving doctored or deliberately undisclosed scientific evidence first broke.
The increase in skepticism about scientific research on global warming is consistent with trends found in separate surveys about the cause of climate change. In April 2008, 47% of voters blamed human activity for global warming, while only 34% viewed long-term planetary trends as the cause. Since then, these results have reversed, and now long-term planetary trends are seen as the chief culprit for global warming . Still, international leaders, including President Obama, continue to work on a UN-sponsored global treaty aimed at reducing the human activity they believe is to blame for global warming.
Overall, just 11% of voters rate Congressional job performance as good or excellent.
Looking back, voters are also still unhappy with the bailouts of the financial industry and auto giants General Motors and Chrysler. Fifty-seven percent (57%), in fact, have more confidence in the judgment of a member of Congress who voted against bailouts than in the judgment of one who voted for them.