Americans Are More Torn Over Climate Change Than Ever, Pew Poll Reveals

In several hours, vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will address Americans from the debate stage in Farmville, Virginia. And the issue of climate change, which garnered just 82 seconds of attention at last week's presidential debate, may continue to be a neglected one.

But voters' positions on climate change, according to a new report from Pew Research Center, remain as divisive and volatile as ever. The majority of liberal Democrats, for example, trust scientists to report accurate information about climate change, compared to only 15 percent of conservative Republicans.

While topics like scientific trust, environmental health, and carbon emissions have received little play on the campaign trail, the nationally representative survey suggests that Americans are firmly divided along party lines when it comes to climate issues.

Unlike previous Pew studies, which focused on partisan viewpoints toward man-made global warming, the new report argues that political differences can affect "a host of beliefs" about climate. These distinctions can influence how people think about policy, individual responsibility, and even behavioral changes related to climate change.

"The role of science knowledge in people's beliefs about climate matters varies and where a relationship occurs, it is complex," said Cary Funk, lead author and associate director of research at Pew Research Center, in a statement.

Liberal Democrats held generally positive views toward climate science, the study found. Meanwhile, only 16 percent of conservative Republicans—as opposed to 55 percent of liberal Democrats—believed that broad consensus among climate scientists exists. (Approximately 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree that man-made global warming is occurring.)

The study also tackled the notion of the "global warming gravy train," which is propagated by climate change deniers to discredit the work of scientists. According to this myth, scientists are profiting financially by publishing research that supports the idea of climate change. (This is untrue.)

Of the 1,500 people surveyed, 57 percent of conservative Republicans were convinced that climate research findings are influenced by scientists who wish to advance their own careers. Just 16 percent of liberal Democrats agreed with this sentiment.

Yet, Pew discovered that a person's scientific literacy doesn't strongly determine their stance on climate issues.

According to the survey, nearly 36 percent of Americans were deeply concerned about climate matters; 72 percent of this group being Democrats, and 24 percent Republican. And the majority of all parties believed that climate scientists should have some role in crafting policy decisions pertaining to climate change.

"The 36 percent of Americans who are more personally concerned about the issue of global climate change, whether they are Republican or Democrat, are much more likely to see climate science as settled, to believe that humans are playing a role in causing the Earth to warm, and to put great faith in climate scientists," Funk added.

Finally, one in five Americans, the Pew study found, were "particularly concerned about helping the environment." However, support for clean energy alternatives was largely bipartisan, and nearly 89 percent of participants held favorable views of solar power; 83 percent endorsed the use of wind turbine farms.

Despite its wide-reaching consequences, climate change and peripheral concerns, such as conservation and renewable energy, have still failed to take hold as key issues this election season.

According to a separate 2016 report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, only 19 percent of registered voters view climate change as something that will influence their vote. For those who are undecided, it wasn't even close to being top priority.

"Political differences are not the exclusive drivers of people's views about climate issues," Funk said. "People's level of concern about the issue also matters."

Learn more about where the candidates stand on the environment with our Motherboard report card:

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