Reuters reports that a poll it did with Ipsos shows “Democrats are far more likely to believe droughts, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and tropical storms have become more frequent or intense where they live in the last decade.”
And of course, polls are likely to show wide disagreement on all manner of subjects, especially among political partisans.
But even in these broad-minded times, there’s one thing we should all agree on: If two people argue about whether, say, hurricanes have become more frequent or intense where they live, they can’t both be right and it is possible to check.
Reuters agrees, rejecting fashionable relativism on this topic at least. Nevertheless, you can guess which side it thinks is right: it sides with the Democrats.
“U.S. government researchers have concluded that tropical cyclone activity, rainfall, and the frequency of intense single-day storms have been on the rise, according to data compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Really? Where? When? We have pretty good data on tropical cyclones in particular and they aren’t increasing. Neither are US floods.
Well, what about the other stuff including droughts? People who bother to check will thereafter doubt claims that these things are all increasing, so if Republicans are doubters, maybe it just means they looked up the numbers.
And you don’t win the argument by appealing to the speculative future.
“’We do expect to see more intense storms,’ said David Easterling, a spokesman for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information.”
Expect to see? Wasn’t the topic what we’d already seen?
Silly Republicans. “An overwhelming majority of scientists believe human consumption of fossil fuels is driving sweeping changes in the global climate by ramping up the concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. But it is impossible to draw a direct link between the changes in U.S. weather in the recent past to the larger trend of warming.”
Whereas an innuendo about the indirect links, followed by a snide reference to Donald Trump, should do the trick.
“President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the science of climate change… Still, a majority of Republicans believe the United States should take ‘aggressive action’ to combat global warming, Reuters polling shows.”
Good old Reuters’ polling. The story goes on to note that “Liberals are more likely to expose themselves to news outlets and people who believe climate change is an urgent threat that affects current weather patterns.” Like Reuters, for instance.
Read more at Climate Discussion Nexus
It is too bad that Democrats are not the main one paying for the efforts on climate change so the rest of us are not forced to waste our money.
Pathetic little liberal democrats out in the rain without a Umbrella and its a Downpour a Cloud Burst and soaking them to their bones and their way too dumb to go indoors where its dry
Well, I am pretty sure that if developers do not follow through on planned drainage plans and instead pay off the politicians, then flooding is more frequent.
That must be because of CO2, right?