In the Pew Research Center’s annual policy priorities survey, released Jan. 24, just 28% say dealing with global warming is a top priority for the president and Congress this year, little changed from the 30% that said this when Obama first took office in 2009. Nearly four-in-ten Democrats say global warming should be a top priority, compared with just 13% of Republicans. About three-in-ten independents (31%) say this as well.  (See our interactive chart, Twelve Years of the Public’s Top Priorities).

When we asked about climate change again in our February survey, only 34% of the public viewed new climate change policies as something that is essential for the White House and Congress to tackle this year.

There are sharp partisan divides when it comes to setting stricter emission limits on power plants to address climate change, according to our February survey.

Still, Obama’s focus on climate change comes at a time when nearly seven-in-ten Americans say they believe there is solid evidence of global warming .

According to a March survey, the percentage saying there is solid evidence of global warming has steadily increased over the past few years. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) say there is solid evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades, up six points since November 2011  and 12 points since 2009.

Still, the March survey showed there are sharp partisan divides about whether there is solid evidence of warming. 

Since 2009, a growing number of Americans attribute global warming to human activity.

An October 2012 survey found that 42% believed the warming is mostly caused by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, while 19% say it is mostly caused by natural patterns in the earth’s environment. In 2011, 38% mostly attributed global warming to human activity and in 2010 34% did so.

In the October 2012 survey, the public continued to be divided on the question of whether scientists agree that the earth is warming mostly because of human activity.

More than four-in-ten (45%) say scientists do agree with this, while 43% say they do not. This is little changed from 2010. In 2006, far more said that scientists agree (59%) than disagree (29%) that the earth is warming mostly because of human activity. There is a wide partisan divide over the question of scientific consensus.

 Read more Pew Research reports on Climate Change.

Browse our other issue tip sheets: 

Overview | Economy | Gun Control | Middle Class | Foreign Policy | U.S.-China Relations | U.S.-Middle East Relations | Immigration | Gay Marriage | Debt and Deficit | Iran | U.S. Catholics

Four years ago, 60% of Americans said that dealing with the nation’s energy problems was a top priority, a number that dropped to 52% last year and now stands at 45%, according to our survey conducted in January. There was little partisan difference on the issue.

A majority of the public puts a priority on developing alternative energy sources while significantly fewer say it is more important to expand exploration of oil, coal and natural gas.

By a 54% to 37% margin, more Americans say the priority for addressing the nation’s energy supply should be developing alternative sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen over increased production of conventional fuels, according to our February survey. But support for putting the emphasis on alternative energy has declined since 2011, a period of rising gas prices. In 2011,  the margin of those favoring an emphasis on alternative energy was 63% to 29%.

There is a significant partisan divide on the question: 64% of Democrats favor putting the priority on alternative energy sources compared to 33% of Republicans. Conversely, 54% of Republicans think the expansion of exploration and production of oil, coal and natural gas is most important, compared to 28% of Democrats. About seven-in-ten (71%) of adults under 29 prioritize alternative energy sources, a far higher figure than older age groups.

Support for allowing more offshore drilling has increased, rebounding from a decline that occurred in the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a survey conducted March 2012, more than twice as many favored than opposed offshore drilling (65% to 31%), a margin almost identical to what it had been before the Gulf oil spill. In June 2010, soon after the Gulf oil spill, support for offshore drilling had fallen to 44% while 52% were opposed. There is a big partisan divide on the question. Nearly nine-in-ten (89%) of Republicans favor more offshore oil drilling compared to 50% of Democrats.

Our March survey showed broad public support for another energy initiative — building the Keystone XL pipeline to transport oil from Canada’s oil sands region through the Midwest to refineries in Texas.

While support for the pipeline spans most demographic and partisan groups, there is a division among Democrats: 60% of the party’s conservatives and moderates support building the pipeline, compared with just 42% of liberal Democrats.

Views were more mixed in the March survey on the increased use of fracking, a drilling method that relies on high-pressure water and chemicals to extract oil and natural gas from underground rock formations.

Twice as many Republicans (66%) as Democrats (33%) favor the increased use of fracking.

The public is divided on whether there should be increased use of nuclear power.

The number of Americans favoring increased use of nuclear power rebounded modestly after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan. In our March 2012 survey, 44% favored greater use of nuclear power while 49% were opposed. The previous March, after Japan’s nuclear emergency, 39% had favored the greater use of nuclear power while 53% were opposed. A majority of Republicans (54%) favor using more nuclear power compared to 37% of Democrats.

On other energy policies, majorities of Americans support requirements for better fuel efficiency for vehicles and spending more on public transit, but are divided on giving tax cuts to energy companies for oil and gas exploration.

Nearly eight-in-ten Americans back requirements for better fuel efficiency in vehicles and 65% favor spending more on subway, rail and bus system. But the public is divided on whether to give tax breaks to oil companies to encourage exploration, with 50% opposing the idea and 49% favoring it.

While majorities of Republicans and Democrats back requiring better fuel efficiency, Democrats favor it by 88% compared to 67% for Republicans. About three-quarters (74%) of Democrats favor more spending on mass transit compared to 52% of Republicans. Nearly six-in-ten (61%) of Republicans support tax incentives for oil companies to encourage exploration, compared to 38% of Democrats. 

Browse our data point sheets on other topics:

Overview |Deficit and Debt| Economy | Middle Class | Gun Control | U.S.-China Relations | Immigration | Climate Change | Gay Marriage | U.S.-Middle East Relations | Foreign Policy | U.S. Catholics | Iran

After almost a month of Japan making do without nuclear energy, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may have finally persuaded local communities that it is safe to restart two of the 50 reactors that have been idled in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Nonetheless, 70% of Japanese say their country should reduce its reliance on nuclear energy, in a poll conducted as the country’s last nuclear power stations went offline. This is a much larger number taking this position than in the weeks following last year’s nuclear meltdown at the quake and tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Increased skepticism about nuclear power is coupled with widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s performance: eight-in-ten say the government has done a poor job dealing with the Fukushima crisis and six-in-ten disapprove of how Tokyo has handled the overall recovery from the earthquake and tsunami.

Read the full report.

About half of Americans say the price of gasoline has gone down over the past month. Those in West Coast states, however, are much more likely to see gasoline prices going up, which is consistent with a rise in prices at the pump in that part of the country.

Read the full report.

Against a backdrop of rising gas prices, the public continues to see development of alternative energy sources as a higher priority than increased production of oil, coal and natural gas, but the gap has narrowed since a year ago.

Support for allowing more offshore oil driving, which dropped sharply after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has recovered to pre-spill levels. Support for increased use of nuclear power, which dropped after last year’s nuclear disaster in Japan, has recovered, but more modestly.

Among those who have heard about fracking — a process that injects chemicals and large amounts of water into shale to free natural gas — there is more support than opposition.

Read the full report for detailed findings on the public’s energy priorities.