"Democrats and Republicans remain at ideological odds over the causes of climate change and the effects of policies to address it," according to a new Pew Research Center survey (November 25, 2019).
Respondents were asked to say whether human activity contributes a great deal, some, or not too much or not at all to climate change; they were also asked the same about natural patterns in Earth's environments.
Overall, 49 percent of respondents said that human activity contributes a great deal to climate change, while 30 percent said that it contributes some and 20 percent said that it contributes not too much or not at all.
But 84 percent of liberal Democrats said that human activity contributes a great deal, while only 64 percent of moderate/conservative Democrats, 35 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans, and 14 percent of conservative Republicans agreed.
"The findings underscore the degree to which Americans remain divided along party and ideological lines when it comes to their beliefs about the causes of climate change," commented Pew.
The survey was conducted from October 1 to October 31, 2019, among 3627 on-line panelists, selected to ensure correct demographic representation. The margin of error at the 95% level of confidence for the entire sample is +/- 2.1 percent.
