Climate Poll: Three-Quarters Of Young, Independent Voters Describe Deniers As ‘Ignorant, Out Of Touch Or Crazy’
A new poll has found climate science denialism in Congress is quickly losing favor among young voters, both Republican and Democrat. The poll, conducted by Democratic and Republican firms for the League of Conservation Voters, found 73 percent of respondents associate climate change deniers with words like “ignorant,” “out-of-touch” or “crazy.”
The firms conducted telephone interviews with 600 registered voters, aged 18 to 34, asking a series of questions on climate change and how it’s portrayed in Congress. They found 66 percent of respondents acknowledged climate change as a problem that needed to be addressed, and that a full 80 percent supported President Obama’s recently-announced plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Congressional Republicans, however, take issue with announced regulations of existing coal-fired power plants. But the LCV poll provides more evidence that Americans support taking action on climate change, even if some members of Congress don’t — a recent bipartisan poll from NRDC found 61 percent of Americans backed Obama’s plan, and a survey from April also found the Republican party was “out of touch” with voters in the issue of climate change.
New Jersey Senate Candidate Dismisses Climate Change Warnings As ‘Silly Hysteria’
For New Jersey’s likely Republican nominee for Senate, it’s not enough that 97 percent of relevant scientific studies agree that man-made climate change is occurring. To him, warnings of the impacts of increasing temperatures are just “silly hysteria.”
Tea Party candidate Steve Lonegan, former Mayor of Bogota, N.J., shot back at a video Democratic candidate Rush Holt’s campaign made on climate change, in which Holt calls the consequences of a warming planet “lethal” and comes out in favor of a carbon tax. Lonegan, who is likely to win the Rebublican nomination for Senate but is a long-shot against Democratic favorite Cory Booker, quickly crafted a press release condemning Holt’s remarks:
