Public Opinion and Global Warming Policy in California
Over the past several years, and particularly since the 2006 release of Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, global warming has garnered a great deal of attention beyond the scientific community, both in the media and among politicians. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted April 24-27, 2007, found that 89 percent of adults nationwide had heard or read a lot or some about global warming, compared to 66 percent who said the same in 2003. Furthermore, about half (52 percent) believed that global warming was a very serious problem that should be one of the highest priorities for government leaders, and half (49 percent) believed it was having a serious impact now—a fourteen-point increase from 2001. California is a good laboratory for studying public opinion on global warming because of its recent state-level policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In June 2000, when California residents in the PPIC Statewide Survey were first asked to name the most important environmental issue facing the state one in three residents (33 percent) named air pollution (see Table 1). Next came growth and overpopulation (12 percent), followed by pollution in general (9 percent), traffic congestion (7 percent), water pollution (6 percent), and water supply (6 percent). At that time, energy and global warming were mentioned by fewer than 1 percent of residents. Between June 2000 and July 2004, at least three in ten still said air pollution was the state’s most important environmental issue, but by July 2005, the proportion naming energy had grown to 6 percent and the issue of global warming was beginning to register at 2 percent. By July 2006, energy at 12 percent and global warming at 8 percent were in the number two and three positions of all mentions, respectively, after air pollution (24 percent). Fewer residents mentioned the issues of pollution in general, water pollution, water supply, or growth and overpopulation.
The July 2006 survey showed some regional and political variations in those who named air pollution, energy, or global warming as the most important environmental issue, despite air pollution being the top mention across groups. Reflecting their exposure to poor air quality in Southern California and the Central Valley, 31 percent of residents in the Inland Empire (comprised of Riverside and San Bernardino counties), 28 percent in Los Angeles County, and 26 percent in the Central Valley named air pollution as the most important issue. Residents in the San Francisco Bay Area were the most likely to name energy (17 percent) and global warming (12 percent). Across political parties, most Democrats, Republicans, and independents mentioned air pollution, but Republicans were the most likely to name energy (18 percent) and the least likely to name global warming (2 percent).
In this most recent survey on the subject, we also found that most Californians were conscious of the threat posed by climate change. Nearly two in three said they believed the effects of global warming had already begun to happen (see Figure 1). This marked a six-point increase from July 2005 and was five points higher than among adults nationwide, according to a Gallup poll conducted in March of 2006.
Across political parties, three in four Democrats and nearly two in three independents said the effects of global warming were already occurring, compared to about half of Republicans, as did solid majorities across regions, racial and ethnic, and other demographic groups.
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