POLL: Dems Became More Militant About Global Warming Under Trump

Americans’ views on global warming have continued to become more “politically polarized” after one year of President Donald Trump, according to new Gallup polling data.

Gallup pollsters found American concern over global warming is “becoming increasingly partisan and therefore entrenched.” Democrats have become more concerned over global warming while Republicans and Independents became more skeptical.

“With Trump reversing many of his predecessors’ policies aimed at curbing global warming, Democrats are feeling a greater sense of urgency about the issue, while Republicans have either remained as skeptical as they had been in the past or have become more so,” reads Gallup’s poll analysis.

For example, the percentage of Republicans and Independents who believe global warming is caused by human activities fell 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively, from 2017 to 2018. Democrats, on the other hand, increasingly saw global warming as man-made.

Here’s Gallup’s data on the question:

The partisan divide also widened on the question of whether or not “the effects of global warming have already begun.” Republicans and Independents became less likely to think global warming’s effects were apparent, while Democrats were more likely to say the opposite.

Here’s the data:

One of the most interesting findings Gallup published is a steep decline in the percentage of Republicans and Independents who don’t think “most scientists believe global warming is occurring.” Democrats’ opinions remained at 86 percent.

Here’s the data:

Global warming is an interesting topic for pollsters to take on since most Americans express worry about it, but it tends to rank low on their political priorities.

Indeed, the polling group Civis Analytics recently asked voters what top priority Democrats should have if they retake Congress and the White House in 2020.

Pollsters found “31 percent said they would want Democrats to focus on health care,” according to a Vox write-up of the poll, adding only 6 percent of voters said they wanted Democrats to focus on global warming.

A summer 2017 Bloomberg poll found only one-in-10 Americans thought global warming was a top issue facing the country, and a 2016 YouGov poll found only 9.2 percent of Americans rank global warming as their top concern.

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