Political Winds, Not Science, Sway Conservative Republicans on Climate Change
The percentage of Republican voters who believe humans are driving climate change jumped by 9 points in only seven months.
By Alan Neuhauser, Staff Writer May 10, 2018, at 4:14 p.m.
THE STAUNCHEST SKEPTICS of climate change appear to be influenced as much by politics as they are by scientific evidence, according to data from a new survey released this week.
In the span of just seven months under President Donald Trump, pollsters recorded a 9-point jump in registered GOP voters who believe that climate change is being mostly fueled by emissions from power plants, motor vehicles and similar activities.
The biggest swing occurred among self-described liberal and moderate Republicans, who saw a 14-point leap in the share of voters who accept climate science – more than half now agree that humans are driving climate change. But even among conservative Republicans, that percentage rose by 5 points.
The sudden shift caused a stir among researchers with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, which conducted the survey, as well as scholars and advocates who follow climate policy and sought to explain the change in views – especially among Republicans who were the most hard-line opponents to climate action and even climate science.
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https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-05-10/political-winds-not-science-sway-conservative-republicans-on-climate-change
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