Don't be deceived about public opinion on climate change. The view of who believes what is being manipulated by skillful skeptics, and the loudest voices of skepticism are unduly represented in the blogosphere and news cycle. The imbalance is politically and philosophically (and psychologically) rooted, as ably documented by Chris Mooney in "The Republican Brain".
Question: Do you think climate change is occurring?
See that 38% on the Republican side that don't believe climate change is occurring? There are a lot of Tea Party members and FreeRepublic posters in that slice of the pie.
The Battle over Climate Change
"Public opinion in the U.S. about anthropogenic climate change is also changing. This spring, four major universities released polls showing that a clear majority of American citizens now say that the world is warming and that the country should take action. Jon Krosnick, a professor of communications at Stanford University, conducted one of the polls. He found that 83 percent of Americans say they believe that the Earth has been warming. One significant factor, he suggests, is that Americans can finally see and feel climate change happening."
If this is progress, then one of the biggest steps backward we could take as a country would be electing Candidate Etch-a-Sketch, Mitt Romney.
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