We don’t have to look far these days for news about the environment. We have seen a highly publicized address to a U.N. climate change meeting by a 16-year-old activist from Sweden; climate change strikes around the world; a strongly contentious clash between the state of California and the federal government on auto emissions standards; efforts by the coal industry to lambast the regulations put in place by the Obama administration as the use of coal as an energy source continues its slide; and exhortations from Democratic presidential candidates and other leaders that climate change constitutes an existential threat to humanity’s continued existence.
Public opinion on these critical, complex and controversial issues? As is often the case with Americans’ views on important and highly visible topics, the picture is quite complex, although I think the data show strong public agreement on several environmental specifics.
Let’s look at some recent news in the context of U.S. public opinion. CONT.
Frank Newport, Gallup