Belief That "Second Coming" May Be Preventing Climate Change Action

[struggle4progress]

25. Poll: Majority see climate change affecting US weather

By Ben Geman - 05/01/13 10:38 AM ET

Fifty-eight percent of U.S. residents believe global warming is affecting the country's weather and a substantial number of people say it has made various extreme weather events “more severe.”

Those are among the findings of the latest joint survey by Yale University’s Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

“Many Americans believe global warming made recent extreme weather and climatic events ‘more severe,' specifically: 2012 as the warmest year on record in the United States (50%); the ongoing drought in the Midwest and the Great Plains (49%); Superstorm Sandy (46%); and Superstorm Nemo (42%),” a summary of the research states ...

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/297163-poll-majority-see-climate-change-affecting-us-weather

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind

... About six in ten Americans ( 58 %) say “global warming is affecting weather in the United States.” By contrast, only 7% say global warming is not affecting the weather and 10% say that global warming isn’t happening ... Half of Americans say global warming is affecting the weather “a lot” ( 23 %) or “some” ( 27 %) ...At Least Four in Ten Americans Say Global Warming Made Several Extreme Weather Events “ More Severe” ... About two out of three Americans say weather in the U.S. has been worse over the past several years, up 12 percentage points since Spring 2012 ...

http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/files/Extreme-Weather-Public-Opinion-April-2013.pdf