Poll Results: The People Want a Climate Bill

Climate and clean energy legislation got strong support today from an unlikely source — Frank Luntz, the prominent Republican pollster.

Luntz’s firm, The Word Doctors, just finished a national poll of more than 1,000 American voters.  He unveiled the results of that poll [PDF] this morning at a news conference with EDF President Fred Krupp and NRG Energy’s CEO David Crane.

The bottom line: Americans are eager for Congress to act on climate legislation that would promote energy independence and a healthier environment.

Luntz says:

Americans want their leaders to act on climate change – but not necessarily for the reasons you think. A clear majority of Americans believe climate change is happening.  This is true of McCain voters and Obama voters alike.

And even those that don’t still believe it is essential for America to pursue policies that promote energy independence and a cleaner, healthier environment.

(You can play the audio of the entire event at the bottom of this post.)

Here are some of the most interesting results from the poll:

  • A majority of Americans believe climate change is occurring and is caused at least in part by humans. Only a small minority — 18 percent — do not believe climate change is real. (Those numbers stay about the same if you call it “global warming.”)
  • 57 percent agreed with the statement: It doesn’t matter if there is or isn’t climate change. It is still in America’s best interest to develop new sources of energy that are clean, reliable, efficient and safe.
  • National security is the main reason that people support cap and trade. Across the demographic board, people liked the idea that clean energy will: liberate us from this oil addiction.

This is the latest in a long line of polls that show Americans want clean energy. But Luntz’s reputation as longtime Republican advisor may give this one extra political resonance.

Luntz said his data shows  a bipartisan consensus on the issue and provides a road map for getting legislation passed.

EDF’s Fred Krupp summed it up:

Frank’s research proves that that no matter who Americans voted for in 2008, in 2010 they want to see Congress act on climate legislation.  It’s a national security priority, it’s a crucial means to reduce pollution, and it’s essential to creating permanent American jobs.

Complete audio recording of the news conference.

This entry was posted in News. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

11 Comments

  1. astroknott
    Posted January 24, 2010 at 2:27 pm | Permalink

    I would really like to know where you guys are finding polls showing Americans want this. I have found many polls showing the exact opposite. There are a rapidly growing number of Americans that understand that this is all political ideology and not science.

    I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it is becoming difficult to do with this website. The emails from the CRU in East Anglia were only the tip of a vastly monstrous iceberg. Everywhere we look we are finding corruption throughout the entire climate science community. It is the most disgusting thing I have seen in many years. And I can’t help but think you guys know all about this and are intentionally, willfully, and knowingly perpetrating this fraud. It’s inexcusable and disgraceful, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

    You are like the energizer bunny, you just keep going and going and going. Don’t ANY of you actually care about the TRUTH!?!?!?!

  2. astroknott
    Posted January 24, 2010 at 9:09 pm | Permalink

    And another thing. Since when does science care about polls? Science is about the seeking of TRUTH. The truth is that AGW is a total fraud and you guys know it. Why to you continue to perpetuate this lie? It’s disgusting, it’s despicable and its inexcusable! How can you look at your reflection in the mirror each morning? Do you have no shame?

  3. Barbod
    Posted January 25, 2010 at 12:37 am | Permalink

    Astroknott! How dare you? “Its OK to lie if you have good intentions” – Al Gore. How are we supposed to save the Earth if our facts don’t fit our conclusions? If we don’t have reasonable evidence to support the idea of man made global warming, how are we supposed to save ourselves from it. Saying global warming doesn’t exist is like saying God or Allah doesn’t exist. All hail Al Gore, may his wealth continue to grow directly from global warming alarmism.

  4. healthyplanet
    Posted January 25, 2010 at 1:13 am | Permalink

    Astroknott,I fail to see the rationality of your argument!Reporting on opinion polls does not undermine science, it merely reflects the science of – well, opinion polls.

    Also, relying for your opinions on selective quotes fron stolen emails taken out of context in order to slander overworked but honest scientists is not what I would call a way to develop a balanced view. Perhaps you could do some similar digging into the past and reputations of the more outspoken deniers around the world. The results might not be too pretty either!

    Astroknott, we have a problem. Why don’t we deal with it constructively and give our kids a chance.

  5. astroknott
    Posted January 25, 2010 at 7:58 am | Permalink

    Dear healthyplanet go here: http://www.climatedepot.com/

    We have a problem alright but its not with “overworked but honest scientists”. The entire “climate science” community is corrupt to its core. If you do a little research you can see that for yourself. Right now your just a climategate “denier”.

  6. blue canary
    Posted January 25, 2010 at 10:24 am | Permalink

    You’re so right, astroknott! A few emails out of tens of thousands totally proves that we shouldn’t invest in clean, renewable energy sources! What’s the point of finding alternatives to our depleting fossil fuels? I don’t care if my kids have to breathe dirty air! Asthma builds character! The so-called “climate scientists” are so corrupt, we should listen to the oil and coal lobbyists and their studies, they have never tried to confuse the American people!

  7. Joe Scamolla
    Posted January 26, 2010 at 8:41 am | Permalink

    Keep dreaming Frank. Yes, everyone wants to promote energy independence and a cleaner, healthier environment. That is motherhood and apple pie. But the solution presented, cap and trade, is a monstrous tax increase based on junk science. There are many, many other alternatives that will achieve the same result at a far lower cost. But then again, certain vested interests would not benefit.

    Healthyplanet, Climategate is not simply a few emails taken out of context but part of an ongoing pattern of data manipulation and deception. Deny it all you want, but in addition to the emails, underlying computer code was also attached that is even more devastating than the emails (if that is possible). Anyways, your opinion and mine for that matter does not matter: the attorneys are already hard at work and they will uncover the truth. Besides, the smart money, ie Banks are already starting to pull out of Cap and Trade schemes. They know the truth…

  8. Haikuseasmoke
    Posted January 29, 2010 at 3:19 am | Permalink

    Astronaught, shouldn’t you be watching Fox News? You wouldn’t want reality getting in the way of your opinion.

  9. Berthold Klein
    Posted February 1, 2010 at 6:10 pm | Permalink

    The hoax of Greenhouse gas effect and man-made global warming is a “Crime against humanity”

    While many of us that have been labeled as “global warming skeptics” and much worse ,should now be known to be the promoters of the truth “That the greenhouse gas effect was disproved in 1909 by R.W. Wood! “
    The promoters of the “Fairy-tale of man-made global warming” are committing international fraud. The individuals and groups that are promoting this lie should be subject to full prosecution in federal and international courts.
    In the case of Michael Mann of Penn State University can not be investigated by the University –it’s like sending wolfs into the chicken coup to get out the fox.
    It must be investigated by the FBI, CIA and Interpol as the crimes that he and others have committed have harmed every person in the world.
    A few of the groups and individuals that should be prosecuted are: Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama ,The UN –IPPC, National Academy of Science, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Federation, NOAA, Jim Hansen of NASA Goddard, Oprah Winfrey, all school teachers that are teaching the lie of Man-made global warming, Lisa Jackson head of EPA ,Carol Browning, Steven Chu, and other members of the president’s cabinet ,The American Society of Civil Engineers, The Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and the British Society of Civil Engineers, Michigan State University and many other universities that have taken grants to do “research on man-made global warming”, John Romm of MIT, etc. This is just the start of an almost endless list of liars and frauds.

    It is necessary for each of us to contact your Congressman both those that believe in the hoax and those that know that man-made global warming /climate change is a hoax and demand that an international investigation be started.
    We must stop all federal and state grants of any kind for controlling of the imaginary “greenhouse gasses

  10. Berthold Klein
    Posted February 2, 2010 at 5:19 pm | Permalink

    A report by Alan Carlin of the US-EPA dated March,2009 shows that CO2 does not cause global warming. This report is based on more that 70 peer reviewed technical papers from real scientist all over the world. In addition I Am including the abstract of a paper by two physicists that shows that the greenhouse gas effects violates fundamental laws of physics;thus the ghg effect does not exist -it is a fairy-tale. Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects
    Within The Frame Of Physics
    Version 4.0 (January 6, 2009)
    replaces Version 1.0 (July 7, 2007) and later
    Gerhard Gerlich
    Institute fur Mathematische Physik
    Technische Universitat Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig
    Mendelssohnstrae 3
    D-38106 Braunschweig
    Federal Republic of Germany
    g.gerlich@tu-bs.de
    Ralf D. Tscheuschner
    Postfach 60 27 62
    D-22237 Hamburg
    Federal Republic of Germany
    ralfd@na-net.ornl.gov

    Abstract

    The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to the
    traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and which
    is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes a fictitious mechanism, in
    which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump driven by an environment that is
    radiatively interacting with but radiatively equilibrate to the atmospheric system. Ac-
    cording to the second law of thermodynamics such a planetary machine can never exist.
    Nevertheless, in almost all texts of global climatology and in a widespread secondary
    literature it is taken for granted that such mechanism is real and stands on a rm sci-
    entifc foundation. In this paper the popular conjecture is analyzed and the underlying
    physical principles are clarified. By showing that (a) there are no common physical laws
    between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the fictitious atmospheric green-
    house effects, (b) there are no calculations to determine an average surface temperature
    of a planet, (c) the frequently mentioned difference of 33 C is a meaningless number
    calculated wrongly, (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately, (e) the
    assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical, (f) thermal conductivity and friction
    must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is falsified.
    Electronic version of an article published as International Journal of Modern Physics
    B, Vol. 23, No. 3 (2009) 275{364 , DOI No: 10.1142/S021797920904984X, c World
    Scientific Publishing Company, http://www.worldscinet.com/ijmpb.

  11. Berthold Klein
    Posted February 2, 2010 at 6:14 pm | Permalink

    Based on my two previous submittals – Man-made global warming is a political lie. Most people have not had enough of a science education to understand that we have been lied too by a very large group of people including the mass media that are promoting the fear of world destruction by an invisible gas that we all breath out-CO2. The green movement has played on peoples ignorance to create a mass hysteria to fool people into thinking that a natural phenomena of “climate change” is being caused by something that man is supposed to be able to control. Well a single wild fire in the hills of California releases more CO2 and other pollutants than all the car in California. A single volcano either below the ocean or on land can release more CO2 and other pollutants than all the cars in the United States.
    The environmental wackos at the Sierra Club have succeeded in stopping the construction of many Coal fired power plants.They are trying to stop more with a program of “brainwashing ” college student to campaign against Coal fire power plants, The problem is that we need more power plants and the most cost effective types are either coal or nuclear. The Sierra Club wants to destroy human progress and your lives. Insufficient power means fewer jobs. CO2 does not cause global warming. These wackos must be stopped. Man-made global warming lies are “CRIMES against Humanity”.

3 Trackbacks