The Politics of Climate
Americans are polarized over the causes and cures of climate change and how much they trust climate scientists, but most support a role for scientists in climate policy and expanding solar and wind energy.
Americans are polarized over the causes and cures of climate change and how much they trust climate scientists, but most support a role for scientists in climate policy and expanding solar and wind energy.
This is the second in a series of reports that details public views on science and scientists in areas that connect with Americans’ daily lives. An earlier report focused on climate, energy and the environment including the relationship between people’s beliefs about these issues and their behaviors related to the environment in everyday life.
There is a host of ways Americans’ opinions about climate issues divide. The divisions start with views about the causes of global climate change. Nearly half of U.S. adults say climate change is due to human activity and a similar share says either that the Earth’s warming stems from natural causes or that there is […]
Scholars have long debated the role knowledge about and understanding of science plays in shaping people’s views on science issues. The common supposition is that when ordinary people have different views from those of experts that the differences stem from knowledge gaps: If people knew more, the argument goes, they would agree with the experts. […]