Most Americans say they want action on global warming
June 26, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, News
Americans overwhelmingly want the feds to regulate emissions that cause global warming, especially if they think business, industry and power plants will be the ones to carry most of the regulatory burden.
A new Washington Post/ABC News survey reveals that 75% of the public think it’s time for the feds to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants, factories and even their own cars.
Critically, the survey also notes that this widespread support for limiting the emissions blamed for causing global warming comes from Republicans, Democrats and independent voters. The poll comes just as Congress wrestles this summer with a 1,201-page bill to create a national cap-and-trade program to manage carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHG reductions.
However, there’s much less agreement over how to regulate GHGs. The poll notes that only 52% of those polled support the cap-and-trade program that would provide a cushion against huge price spikes and encourage market forces to temper regulatory costs.
And when those polled realize that reducing GHGs will hurt their bank accounts, support for action falls a bit more. When asked if they’d support GHG regulation if it cost them money:
- 62% still supported GHG action if it means higher prices
- 56% supported action if it boosted utility bills by $10 a month, and
- 44% supported action if utilities bills increased by $25 a month.
The survey also reveals that the younger the voter, the more supportive of a cap-and-trade program.
Nearly 80% of the under 30 crowd supported federal emission limits on GHGs while only 50% of seniors favored such action. Cap-and-trade support split along generational lines as well: Two-thirds of young voters supported it while only 40% of seniors like the cap-and-trade idea.
The Washington Post story is here.
Tags: cap-and-trade, CO2, GHGs
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July 2nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
The fed really thinks this will make a difference in “global warming”? You have got to be kidding me! On what planet do these polled people live? Please see all comments from the article “like it or not, climate change is here…” for a realistic world view. Thank you.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
75%???? You have tobe kidding me. How about the effects of the sun….daaaaa. What about the next ice age that was predicted by these wackos 30 or 40 years ago. Be responsible with our resources but be realistic in balancing economic and environmental reality. They’re all nuts.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
The US only accounts for less than 5% of the global popilation so I doubt it will make a dent.
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Right on Joshua, polls conducted by ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN never seem to reflect the views of anyone I come in contact with. We’re all asking the same question. It’s always possible to get the results you want simply by polling the right crowd and I don’t think for a moment that these polls are as diversified as they claim. So, if cap & trade becomes a reality, we clean up our act here in America and make manufacturing foot the bill. Their prices to the consumer have to increase to off set their government mandated emissions taxes. This causes them to no longer be competetive with foreign markets. We the consumer, in order to save a buck, buy the foreign brand. And there’s nothing wrong with that if you don’t mind being laid off from your factory job. Hey, at least we saved a few bucks and lowered emissions in our country. The increased manufacturing sparked half way around the world due to factory closings in the U.S. Well, I guess that won’t have any bearing on green house gases since their emissions standards are already so much higher than here in America. Wake up and smell the deception.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
It seems that if we poll the readers of this article we would have 100% agreement that global warming is nothing but a hoax and this legislation will do nothing but pad the pockets of a few crooks. There cannot possibly be that much of a majority who think we humans could so radically, in a mere 2 centuries of the industiral revolution, upset the balance of what God created millions of years ago.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
If you want the real reasons look up the Copenhagen Treaty, or Lord Monckton commentary on the Copenhagen Treaty on U-Tube.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
“It seems that if we poll the readers of this article we would have 100% agreement that global warming is nothing but a hoax”
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are readers who disagree with your assertion, we just don’t spend a lot of time commenting on the biases of many on this site. I do my own research and it’s never based on political sites since the obvious bias negates the value of the data.
This argument has been raging for decades, but corporate America has done very little to nothing to address the issue. What we hear from them is that prices will rise if they are held to a higher standard. In other words, they’re clueless and uninterested in changing since it’s cheaper to do nothing. And ethically speaking, it is not a defense that other countries contribute more than the U.S. to climate change as it doesn’t relieve us of our moral obligation to protect the planet on which we live.