Big Storms Yes, Global Warming No
It’s less than one month into winter, and already strong blizzards have bombarded the East and West Coasts. But most Americans don't see global warming as the culprit.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds, in fact, that just 32% of Adults think global warming is causing the increase in the number of major storms like the recent blizzards. A plurality (45%) says global warming is not the reason for the recent storms, and another 23% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
However, 41% do think it's more likely that the Earth is going through global warming than that the planet is about to enter a new mini-Ice Age. Seventeen percent (17%) say it's more likely that we're entering a new Ice Age. Twenty-nine percent (29%) see no major climate change coming, and 13% are undecided.
Voters continue to take global warming seriously, but concern has fallen since November 2009 when the so-called ‘Climategate’ scandal broke, raising questions about the reliability of pro-global warming research.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults nationwide was conducted on December 30, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted byPulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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