Nearly Half of Americans Believe Global Warming Threat Is Exaggerated

The number of Americans who now believe that the seriousness of global warming has been generally exaggerated has jumped from a low of 30 percent in 2006 to 48 percent today, according to a Gallup poll conducted March 4-7. When Gallup first asked the question in 1997, 31 percent believed it was exaggerated.

Fifty-three percent do believe that global warming has already begun or will within a few years, but that number is down from a high of 65 percent in 2008. Ten percent believe it will happen during their lifetime while 35 percent say it will never happen, up from a low of 23 percent in 2006.

Sixty-seven percent do not believe that global warming will affect them or their way of life during their lifetimes, up from 58 percent in 2008, while the percentage of those who do believe it will affect them has fallen from 40 percent in 2008 to 32 percent.
There has also been a shift of public opinion as to the causes of global warming. Americans are now split on the question of whether human activities or natural causes are the culprit, with 50 percent pointing to human activities and 46 percent blaming natural causes. (The margin of error is four points). When Gallup first asked the question in 2003, 61 percent blamed human activities while 33 percent named natural causes.

"Many global warming activists have used film and photos of melting ice caps and glaciers, and the expanding reach of deserts, to drive home their point that global warming is already having alarming effects on the earth," Gallup said. "While these efforts may have borne fruit over much of the 2000s, during the last two years, Americans' convictions about global warming's effects have waned." Gallup also said that the attention given to former Vice President Gore's focus on global warming may have helped raised consciousness about the issue through his book "An Inconvenient Truth" and his Oscar-winning documentary of the same name, but the effect of that may also have faded.

Another impact may be the "Climategate" controversy that has been raging for months over allegations that climate scientists had covered up errors in global warming research and tried to tamp down opposing views.

Gallup found that the percentage of Americans who say most scientists believe global warming is occurring dropped from 65 percent in 2008 to 52 percent.

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