Global Warming

The countdown to Copenhagen, where nations will gather to discuss global climate change, continues, but most Americans aren’t paying much attention. In a new poll from the Pew Research Center, just 14 percent said they had heard a lot about “a policy being considered by the president and Congress” called “cap-and-trade” that would limits carbon dioxide emissions. Thirty percent had heard some about the policy, and 55 percent not at all. In another recent poll, a Pew IQ quiz, just 23 percent of those surveyed knew that the term “cap-and-trade” related to energy. In the new late September/early October Pew poll, 35 percent, down from 47 percent in April 2009, said the global warming problem was “very serious.”

Americans have agreed on the goals they want environmental policy to serve. They want a clean and healthful environment and are willing to pay for it. But they aren’t as engaged in discussing global warming in particular or how to reach environmental goals in general. That’s part of the reason for the low level of attention.

Source: Pew Research Center, September-October 2009.