Poll: 75% of Americans Want More Federal Action on Global Warming

NEWTON CENTRE, Massachusetts, March 15, 2006 (ENS) - A majority of Americans of all political beliefs are dissatisfied with what they perceive as weak federal leadership on global warming and energy issues, according to a public opinion poll released today. At the same time they support the growing number of state and local efforts to rein in climate change problems and to tap alternative fuel sources, the poll found.

The national survey was conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of the Massachusetts based nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank Civil Society Institute (CSI) and 40MPG.org, which is a project of the CSI think tank.

The survey found that about three out of five Americans (58 percent) are more concerned about global warming today than they were two years ago – including 76 percent of liberals and 57 percent of independents, but only 42 percent of conservatives.

Only about three in 10 Americans (29 percent) say there is "no change" in their view about global warming.

The CSI/40mpg.org survey also found that more than three out of four Americans (76 percent) - including two out of three conservatives - think the federal government is not doing "enough to address global warming and develop alternative energy sources in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

A Santee Cooper coal-fired power plant in South Carolina. Burning fossil fuels such as coal produces emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. (Photo credit Power)

Survey results are based on telephone interviews conducted with 1,029 adults (512 men and 517 women) aged 18 and over living in private households in the continental United States.

Interviewing was completed by Opinion Research Corporation during the period of February 23-26, 2006. Completed interviews of the survey adults were weighted by four variables - age, sex, geographic region, and race, to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total adult population. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the complete sample of 1,029 adults. Smaller sub-groups will have larger error margins.

The pollsters found that 77 percent of Americans think that "developing alternative or renewable energy sources and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil should be President Bush's top priority for the balance of his term in office."

Eighty-three percent of Americans – including 72 percent of conservatives and 85 percent of independents – would like to see more attention paid to global warming during the 2006 Congressional elections and the 2008 Presidential elections.

Civil Society Institute President Pam Solo said, "Americans want the President and Congress to take decisive leadership steps on climate change. Right now, state and local officials are filling a massive leadership vacuum in the absence of meaningful federal action. The most important step to solving climate change is clean, safe and renewable energy. The time for diagnosis is long past. We know we have to kick the oil habit."

Opinion Research Corporation researcher Graham Hueber said, "One of the most striking aspects of these findings is the widespread and decidedly bipartisan nature of the concerns about inaction on global warming and energy solutions. We don't see the party-line polarization that is so evident on many other national issues. This survey will give no comfort at all to politicians who think they can drag their feet on climate change and energy solutions."

Entitled "Global Warming & Alternative Energy: A Leadership Survey," the CSI/40mpg.org poll also found that 83 percent of those polled support "more leadership from the federal government to reduce the pollution linked to global warming, encourage new approaches to promoting conservation and spark the development of renewable or alternative energy sources".

The level of support for that statement is similar across political lines, including 81 percent of conservatives, 83 percent of independents and 88 percent of liberals.

Vehicles stuck in traffic emit greenhouse gases linked to global warming. (Photo credit unknown)

Today, 71 percent of Americans agree with that statement, including 66 percent of conservatives. When the same question was posed in a 40mpg.org survey released on March 17, 2005, only two thirds of Americans agreed with the statement, including 57 percent of conservatives.

Three out of four Americans (74 percent) – including 79 percent of conservatives – agree that, "Growing concerns about the reliability of Middle Eastern oil now make it difficult to separate our national security policy - keeping America safe - from our environmental policy - preserving the environment through conservation and the development of renewable or alternative energy resources."

More than four out of five Americans (83 percent) told pollsters that they support "federal scientists and other experts" who "have been barred from speaking out on such topics as global warming - or strongly discouraged from doing so."

Most Americans – including 73 percent of conservatives and 87 percent of independents – back "whistleblowers who alert the public to potential problems that their superiors may want to keep hidden."

Nearly nine out of 10 Americans (87 percent) agree that U.S. leaders should "take steps to reduce carbon pollution now and speed up the conversion to renewable energy and other alternatives."

For full survey findings, go to http://www.civilsocietyinstitute.org and http://www.40mpg.org.

The websites also feature a new CSI report, "Policy Abhors a Vacuum," which outlines steps that more than 40 states, and almost 200 municipalities are taking to address global warming concerns.

Launched in March 2005, the 40mpg.org Web site allows visitors to determine how much they would save by getting 40 miles to the gallon; compare and contrast one vehicle's fuel-efficiency ratings with those of others; monitor how individual members of Congress weighed in on the most recent fuel-efficiency standard votes; contact automakers to speak out in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles; and send a letter to the editor of a local newspaper urging the adoption of a 40 mpg fuel-efficiency standard.