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Politics & Global Warming, October 2017


1. The Politics of Global Warming Beliefs

1.1. Seven in ten registered voters think global warming is happening.

Seven in ten registered voters (72%) think global warming is happening. This includes nearly all liberal Democrats (97%; six percentage points higher than in our first survey in 2008), about nine in ten moderate/conservative Democrats (89%; eight points higher than in 2008), and a majority of liberal/moderate Republicans (63%). In contrast, fewer than half of conservative Republicans (37%) think global warming is happening – 13 percentage points lower than in 2008, and 9 points lower than one year ago, just after the election of President Trump. (see Data Tables).

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1.2. A majority of registered voters think global warming is caused mostly by human activities.

A majority of registered voters (54%) think global warming is caused mostly by human activities. This includes a large majority of liberal Democrats (83%; five percentage points higher than in our first survey in 2008, but four percentage points lower than in our previous survey in May 2017 – see Data Tables). A majority of moderate/conservative Democrats (67%) also think global warming is mostly human-caused.

Fewer than half of liberal/moderate Republicans (41%; 11 points lower than in 2008) think global warming is caused mostly by human activities. Only two in ten conservative Republicans (21%) think global warming is mostly human-caused, a decrease of nine points since May.

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1.3. About six in ten registered voters are worried about global warming.

A majority of registered voters (63%; eight points higher than in our previous survey in May, 2017; see Data Tables) are “very” or “somewhat” worried about global warming. This includes large majorities of liberal Democrats (94%; eight points higher than in May) and moderate/conservative Democrats (80%; also an eight-point increase).

More than half of liberal/moderate Republicans (55%; 12 points higher than in May) are worried about global warming. About one in four conservative Republicans (23%) are worried about global warming.

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