Global Warming - Two-Thirds of Americans Want Us to Join Climate Change Pact

Two-Thirds of Americans Want US to Join Climate Change Pact

Summary of News Item

The New York times  on November 30 2015 published an article authored by Giovanni Russonelo indicating that two thirds of Americans  want the US to join   Climate Change Pact. A solid majority of Americans  say the United States should join international treaty to limit impact  of global warming but on this and other climate related questions opinion  divides sharply along partisan  lines, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. This represents a shift in public opinion, advocates for climate change are hopeful that the Paris talks could be a turning point.

Public support for international and domestic measures to address climate change may provide a lift for Americans negotiators attending the major United Nations climate change conference . however there still remain a stark divide on climate policy at home in the US making it difficult for President Obama and his successors putting in place energy and climate policies that will support robust international agreement.

Poll Results

•63% of Americans including a bare majority of Republicans support domestic policy limiting carbon emissions from plants

•75% of Americans polled said global warming was already having a serious environmental impact

•Nine to Ten Democrats agreed to the negative impact, compared 58% of Republicans

•One third of Republicans said it will never have an impact

•50% of all Americans  said the government should take steps to restrict drilling ,logging and mining on public lands, compared to 45% who opposed restrictions.

•Among Democrats support for limiting mineral extraction on public lands rose to 58%

•One out 5 Americans favored increasing taxes on electricity as a way to fight global warming

•Six in ten  opposed increasing taxes, including 49% of  Democrats

•36% support increasing  taxes to curb global warming

•51% of respondents worried about global warming

•Among adults under 30 the number of adults it was 30% it was 54% for Democrats

•68% of respondents under 30 supported taxing companies and fewer than  ¾ of Democrats

•54 % as opposed to 34 % believed a sacrifice must be made to protect the environment

•In 2007 52% supported protecting the environment as opposed to 34% for the economy.

The poll was conducted nationwide from 18-22 November 2015  among 1030 respondents Margin of error is plus or minus 4%

Poll Analysis

The poll was conducted nationwide by means of a telephone poll of 1030 individuals who were dialed at random. A set of 11 questions was asked all respondents with some of the questions being rotated (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/30/science/earth/01poll-document.html)

The article does not indicate what statistical analysis technique was used in computing or deriving the outcome. However when you take a look at the poll results you will notice that the recent poll results is juxtaposed with past results of similar polls from previous years.

Questions 5, 6 and 7 do not have any comparative analysis from the past though the article is based on question five. It is interesting to note that  question 6 which asks about how much respondents worry about global warming was not given statistical prominence.

The article compares the poll to previous polls held in 2007 to buttress a claim of rising support for climate change.

Critique

The sample size appears too small to be representative of the views of Americans. Though I admit that not all Americans should participate to make it representative, using 1030 individuals to represent a nation of  322 million individuals is quite an inadequate figure.