"The End of the Partisan Divide Over Climate Change" | Forbes.com

The End of the Partisan Divide Over Climate Change

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Zeller Jr. @ Forbes.com The revelation late last week that global average temperatures set a new record in 2014 seemed to underscore a political and cultural shift on climate change that, by many accounts, was already well underway. From the stock markets and Wall Street to the boardrooms of Big Oil — and even the living rooms of Republican voters — the era of reflexive skepticism and denial of basic climate science appears to be coming to a close.

Republican voters' opinion on carbon dioxide regulation is encouraging...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Zeller Jr. @ Forbes.com Despite promises by a Republican-controlled Congress to aggressively fight and roll-back a whole host of environmental protections, including curbs on carbon dioxide emissions, more than half of [Republican voters who participated in a recent poll conducted by Yale University’s Project on Climate Change Communication] said they supported regulation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. This was true even among those who identified themselves as part of the party’s conservative wing...

But I'm not sure the actual situation is as positive as the article implies. According to the Yale poll referenced in the article, more than half of Republicans still think climate change is not even happening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yale Project on Climate Change Communication We find that solid majorities of self-identified moderate and liberal Republicans – who comprise 30% of the party – think global warming is happening (62% and 68% respectively). By contrast, 38% of conservative Republicans think global warming is happening. At the extreme, Tea Party Republicans (17% of the party) are the most dismissive – only 29% think global warming is happening.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1BSrmvm