Energy

CONSENSUS: Global Warming Isn’t A Top Concern For 90% Of Americans

REUTERS/Mike Theiler

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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Only one in 10 Americans say global warming is the most important issue facing the U.S., according to a new Bloomberg poll.

Even though 90 percent of Americans did not say global warming was the country’s most pressing issue, climate concerns topped other categories. Only 6 percent said the U.S.’s relationship with Russia was a top concern, and only 4 percent said taxes.

The Bloomberg poll found that health care was by far the top concern for Americans. Thirty-five percent said health care was their top concern and 13 percent pointed to unemployment and jobs.

The results shouldn’t be that surprising. Polls consistently find only a fraction of Americans rank global warming as their top concern. A 2016 YouGov poll, for example, found only 9.2 percent of Americans listed global warming as their top concern.

A 2015 Fox News poll found only 3 percent of Americans viewed global warming as the most important issue facing the country.

What’s also interesting is that even though a low number of Americans list global warming as their top concern, a whopping 40 percent told Yale University pollsters in early July they believed there was a 50/50 chance man-made warming would eventually lead to humanity’s extinction.

The new Bloomberg poll is particularly interesting since a separate Harvard University-Politico poll released Friday found a majority of Americans disapproved of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

Trump announced he would withdraw from the accord, arguing it would transfer wealth from the U.S. to its economic competitors. The U.S. won’t fully withdraw from the Paris accord until 2020.

The Harvard-Politico poll found 53 percent of Americans disagreed with Trump’s Paris decision, but most of that angst came from Democrats.

Forty-two percent of Americans agreed the Paris agreement was “less about climate change and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the U.S.,” while 42 percent disagreed.

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