Essay by Eric Worrall
According to Pew Research, More people than ever are worried about climate change – but there is a stark left / right political divide in levels of concern.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER AUGUST 31, 2022
Climate Change Remains Top Global Threat Across 19-Country Survey
People see UN favorably and believe ‘common values’ are more important for bringing nations together than ‘common problems’
BY JACOB POUSHTER, MOIRA FAGAN AND SNEHA GUBBALA
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, a hot war between Russia and Ukraine ongoing, inflation rates rising globally and heat records being smashed across parts of the world, countries are facing a wide variety of challenges in 2022. Among the many threats facing the globe, climate change stands out as an especially strong concern among citizens in advanced economies, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A median of 75% across 19 countries in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region label global climate change as a major threat.
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Concerns about climate, misinformation and cyberattacks predominate across 19 countries, but people are also concerned about the global economy and spread of infectious diseases
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Concern about global warming is relatively low in Malaysia and Israel, where about half or fewer say that it is a major threat. In the U.S., 54% of people say climate change is a major threat, which is the lowest such rating among the five threats tested. Political divisions on this question play a role in how Americans assess climate change: 78% of Democrats and those that lean toward the Democratic Party say climate change is a major threat, compared with only 23% of Republicans and Republican leaners. (For more, see “Americans see different global threats facing the country now than in March 2020.”)
Political divisions on climate change are not restricted to the U.S. In 14 of the countries surveyed, those on the political left are more likely to say that climate change is a major threat than those on the political right. For example, in Australia, 91% of those who place themselves on the left side of the political spectrum say climate change is a major threat, compared with only 47% among those on the right.
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Despite these political divisions, concerns about climate change have been rising in recent years, as people react to the climate extremes plaguing their countries. As an example, three-quarters of Britons say that climate change is a major threat to their country in 2022. In 2013, only 48% said the same. Concerns about climate change are at all-time highs in 10 countries.
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Read more: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/08/31/climate-change-remains-top-global-threat-across-19-country-survey/
According to Pew there is also strong public concern about online “misinformation”:
“… The spread of false information online and cyberattacks from other countries are the second and third greatest concerns overall among the issues tested. A median of 70% across the 19 surveyed countries see the spread of misinformation online as a top threat, with around a quarter (24%) saying it is a minor threat and 5% proclaiming disinformation as not a threat. Similarly, 67% see cyberattacks as a major threat, with a quarter saying they are a minor threat and 4% saying they are not a threat. …”
This misinformation concern could explain the growing left wing Obama backed US push to censor the internet, and the outrageous censorship demand submitted by the Australian Academy of Science. In my opinion both Obama’s censorship push and the Australian Academy of Science submission are blatant attempts to criminalise criticism of their narratives, and silence right wing news broadcasters.
The higher level of concern amongst young people is noteworthy. Even young people with otherwise right wing views are more concerned about climate change. In my opinion this rising concern amongst young people across the political spectrum, is evidence that the multi decade left wing push to capture government schools and convert them into green madrassas is bearing fruit.
Sadly I believe this situation, climate concern and the push for censorship, is going to get worse before it gets better. A few times in previous articles I expressed hope we had turned a corner, but if Pew is right, we still have a long road to travel.
Europe and Britain, as ever, are the leaders when it comes to climate insanity, yet despite their ongoing economic problems and energy bill pain, they are still clinging more than ever to their green faith. The coming winter of industrial shutdowns and blackouts may test their resolve a little, but I’m starting to believe it is going to take more than one climate policy disaster winter to shake them free from decades of green indoctrination.
I mean, just look at California, if you want a preview of what is happening in Britain and Europe. How much economic pain will it take for the majority of Californian politicians to renounce their commitment to climate action?
Has Pew underestimated climate skepticism? A lot of climate skeptics I know don’t respond to surveys, or give misleading answers, because they don’t want to be persecuted by politicised government agencies or targeted at work by greens.
Over the next decade I guess we are likely going to learn the answer to these questions.
Note: I’m going to be attending CPAC Australia on October 1-2 this year, I look forward to meeting some of you in person. My wife has threatened to burn my Hawaiian shirts if I pack them, so look out for the tall fat man in a dark suit. CPAC Kayla, that email was from me.
Mark Zuckerberg has admitted Facebook took guidance on “Russian disinformation” from the FBI. The level the media, legacy or social, sucks up to the government should not be underestimated.
To give the devil his due, Zuckerberg could have hung onto this information until after the midterms. Just maybe he’s starting to grow up a little.
I’ve read that Joe Rogan is an excellent interviewer who can get
guests to relax, let down their guard & speak more candidly
than they normally would. As the interview progressed, Zuckerberg
realized he had “spilled the beans” & then backtracked a bit. I
haven’t seen him defend his revelations so I wouldn’t go with the
“growing up” option just yet. If he eventually does, then you’re on to
something.
I agree with you. I don’t trust Zucker any farther than I could throw him.
Well, if he’s at the edge of a tall cliff, you could throw him quite far.
What a delightful idea!
Thank God I said that on WUWT. If I said it on Twitter, I’d soon have the tweet pulled and be getting a lecture from the Twitter censor kids about encouraging violence and it being against their community standards. whatever those are. They have no sense of humor.
I once told a notorious troll who said he was from Iceland to go play in the volcanoes. Mind you, this was the time all Icelanders and a whole lot of people from around the world were going to their volcanos to do just that, play in them, or at least, with the lave. Some idiots did try to go play in the volcanos. By some miracle, I think they survived but a number of them did have close calls.
I had to explain all this to the censors. They must not keep up with current events. Anyway, I blocked that troll immediately.
Borg drones don’t have standards, community or otherwise, just programming. Resistance is futile
He knew precisely what he was saying. He would have been well briefed before he went in. There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Zuckerberg said the same thing during a congressional hearing months ago. It just never got any press.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/top-climate-adviser-gina-mccarthy-leaving-white-house-john-podesta-joining_4707393.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-09-03&utm_medium=email&est=ayf610303PxglqMZmsAyrE552MySQOfTndnFeBHRoe5Qcegh37cIqgJJ%2FeEc2Iwc
Gina headed to GITMO???
Absolutely correct. Nobody noticed what he said then.
“Just maybe he’s starting to grow up a little.”
Given the $500M he spent to buy a presidential election, an alternate hypothesis would be he’s hedging his bets as to whose ire he’s going to be facing if reasonable people vote reasonably.
Not that Republicans have any record of enjoining fear from their political enemies, mind you.
I usually hang up on phone surveyors. Do I worry about AGW? I think for my top 1,000 things to worry about, it doesn’t make the list, sorry. I get all my climate “misinformation” from WUWT… 😉
But seriously, if I want true misinformation I’ll just turn on the TV, even Fox News promotes this false ideology. Sorry, I just don’t believe that the minute amounts of CO2 we put into the atmosphere are changing anything, except maybe helping plants.
I use caller ID (CID). Unknown callers don’t get a pick-up, or whatever it is now called. Leaving a message for me helps, but most of those are pests also.
Left wing = “feelers”
Right wing = “thinkers”
‘Nough said !
BTW – Eric, love the photo :))
Thanks :-). The guy on my left, had an interesting conversation with him about world events.
Three questions, Eric. What did he think about world events? Did he express an opinion on climate change? What did he think about your shirt?
PS I like it and, usually, I’m not a fan of Hawaiin shirts. In that setting and in that company, it just works. Australia, of course, may be another story. For several reasons, I’d say listen to your wife.
Mostly he was concerned about the international drug trade, and drug abuse by young kids. One of the boat attendants was stoned out of his gourd on chemically concentrated Kava, this is apparently a big problem in the Pacific. They choose Kava because its a cultural drug, like beer in the West, so legally tolerated. But when concentrated the effect is more like heroin.
Since this post is about polling, why not appeal to your
wife to let you wear your Hawaiian shirts to Oz CPAC & poll
attendees to see if she’s right? It may be a long shot but
one worth taking. BTW, I like Hawaiian shirts & dressing
tropics casual is a great way to say “bring on the glow-bull
warming” @ CPAC!
I just asked her, I don’t think I’ll be allowed.
SWMBO is correct.
Alinsky Rule 11: “The price of a successful
attack is a constructive alternative.
Never let the enemy score points because
you’re caught without a solution to the
problem.”
On a more serious note: with conferences where
climate may be, at minimum, a subject of
discussion, why not have “Embrace CO2/GW” as a
theme, with a dress casual “meet & greet” Luau
social as a way to help people relax & have a
good time? The Team™ continually attacks, to
win directly & if they don’t, to win indirectly
as we self-censor our opinions & facts. Either
way, they win, we lose.
This would be one way to go on offense for a
change, providing alternative viewpoints like
CO2 & warming are good, people & animals
already adjust to temperature change both daily
& geographically, etc. So suggesting the concept
of going on offense @ conference planning
sessions (especially for any you’re planning to
attend- hint, hint), could eventually change the
debate, as more people become conditioned to
learn to go on offense & push back against the
constant assault. This would also work
@ political conferences, too.
Your left or my left, I am so confused.
“Concern about global warming is relatively low in Malaysia and Israel…”
Those two nations already have a religion, they don’t need CAGW for one. Also, Israel has plenty of real threats to worry about. They don’t need to go find another.
+1000
They have real world existential threats so they don’t worry about the fantasy ones
Eric, I pay no attention to poll results unless I have viewed the poll questions. Most polls are written so badly that they are useless as a measure of what people think or believe. It is a shame. I have never seen what I would call a proper poll. They all are jaded to advance a particular point of view.
Polls are simply a tool to measure the effectiveness of propaganda and, perhaps, the intelligence or gullibility of the populous.
The reported high levels of concern in the UK across the political spectrum simply reflect the unceasing propaganda from the British media about global warming. Most people in Britain now think that there has been an increase in extreme weather events and that mankind is to blame. Even more ludicrously, the British media are claiming that renewable energy is the solution to high energy prices.
Climate alarmists have captured the British media to such an extent that I don’t see how the truth about global warming will ever be reported. Even if there are energy blackouts in Britain this Winter, the media will claim that this is the result of us being too reliant on fossil fuels.
Many people in the U.K. including the BBC think that the BBC is a pillar of rectitude in the dissemination of information.
It is definitely NOT; mainly because it has been recruiting its employees from the pages of the Guardian newspaper for years; so has its own ‘In House’ virtuous Mindset, which colours its output and choice of subject.
Its attitudes on Climate Matters are despicable and seem to get away with gross misinformation output regularly, albeit illegal under its contract.
Leftard group think in action.
You, also, have to watch who they polled. Here in the US, some Democrat-leaning pollsters are way oversampling Democrats to help Biden and the House and Senate candidates look like they are way far ahead of the Republicans for our mid-terms coming up in Nov. Other pollsters who are fair and way more accurate have the Republicans mostly in the lead except for deep Blue Dem. states.
Funny how frequently poll questions beg the result!
Push polls designed to provide the answer required.
The climate science of polls, if you wish.
One of my friends, a great scholar who put students ahead of research to his detriment, kept a huge dictionary on a stand outside of his office. From my smaller Webster the definition of climate is 1-regions of earth with certain conditions, 2a- average course of weather conditions at a place over a period of time (T, wind, precipitation), 2b-prevailing set of conditions indoors, 3-prevailing influence or environmental conditions characterizing a group or period.
Along with constitutions maybe we need to hand out dictionaries, classical of course.
What happens when the ‘Wokers’ re-write the dictionaries?
Doh. It fits their ideology so nothing more needs to be said.
An Australian Federal Member of Parliament commented recently on Sky News while being interviewed that the swing by climate sceptics towards supporting the climate hoax in the Coalition parties was based on focus group results and the belief that most voters wanted climate action (whatever that might be).
I can believe it. Heaven forbid politicians just do the right thing and educate voters. Maybe they think voters are uneducable? It sure seems to me that the Liberal Party in Aus. shot themselves in the foot when they decided to get on board with the CAGW nonsense.
From afar, it looked to me like they were giving voters no real choices in the election. If they had stuck to facts about CC and the high cost of ruinables and the impending energy supply disaster, at least, when it all goes south, which it will, they could have reminded people they warned them what would happen. Now, all they have on their resume is being as dumb as the other guys.
My two cents on your politics, anyway.
KcTaz,
I wrote repeated emails to the Lib party (conservatives, right leaning) machine in the months before the election. The emails set out the case to drop the net zero stupidity and pull out of Paris agreement. Told them they would lose big way and be sorry after the election if they did not do this.
It is after the election and they lost. Do they feel sorry? No, they blame someone else. Will they drop net zero or Paris? Do not know, they have stopped sending me love letters.
Are we seeing democracy in action and politicians hearing the wishes of the people? Not on your Nellie.
Come on, real conservatives, read your text books again, rediscover your core principles and start acting less like communist sympathisers.
Geoff S
It’s much easier for politicians to sell fear – fear of climate change, fear of Covid, fear of right wing fascism – than it is to present a coherent positive vision for the future.
Albo will end the climate wars
A poll that does not ask how much the respondent would pay per year (or similar) to ‘fight climate change’ is worthless.
deleted by the FBI
The respondents are anonymous, can virtue signal with no money out of their pockets, and the question wording can be very deceptive. I know when climate change polls ask people about how much money they would be willing to contribute to “fight: climate change, whatever that means, the support becomes a mile wide and an inch deep.
I’m very concerned about climate change and have been for 25 years. But my concern is about fake climate scaremongering and the panic Nut Zero response to climate change scaremongering. So how do i answer the polling questions? The answer is I never respond to polls unless someone pays me to take them, which they never do. Not even to the US Census — I consider some questions on the Census to be racist, or none of anyone’s business, so even that poll does not get completed. I’d like to tell them two people over age 18 live in our house, and they probably already know that, but they ask far more than that. So they get no response at all. Ever.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, …
Locally, we missed that memo. A major rodeo and county fair opened today in Ellensburg. Almost no one (maybe 1/2 of 1%) gives a schist about the Covid19 Panic.
I assume a person wearing a mask has a personal reason for thinking it is helpful. In the sense that others stay away from such individuals, I suppose they are more comfortable. Wearing a hat with a tiny propeller on top would serve the purpose.
cotton-multicolor-propeller-cap-packed-2-dozen-must-be-ordered-in-carton-packs–best-seller-1.jpg (600×600) (whatdoyouneed.com)
“Advanced economies.” Snort!!! You mean the ones fast regressing to feudalism.
Not much advanced thinking in the Advanced economies.
Yes.
In the decline phase, because most don’t read history or understand science.
Nutcase totalitarian scheming behind an altruistic disguise is a left-wing preoccupation, always has been, always will be.
Next on the list – gravity is causing more and more damage and it’s all our fault.
The poll suggests that the propaganda is working, especially on the weak minded Left, where authoritarian group think makes people say and do irrational things to conform to the dominant political doxa.
Right thinking people are much more resistant to all that by nature.
The results are also skewed towards Western countries, they forgot to ask the Chinese, Africans, South Americans and Indians their opinion.
Rather than asking for opinions perhaps interviewers could ask people what sacrifices they have made to their lifestyle to reduce CO2 emissions. That would give a more realistic answer as to who is genuinely concerned.
I do my best to assist in greening the planet, we need the food.
Of course it is a ‘Left Wing Issue’
It is entirely populated by ill-educated and lazy folks who think there is $$$$ in it for them.
“Climate Concern is a Mostly Left Wing Issue.”
And water is wet.
From the article: “In my opinion both Obama’s censorship push and the Australian Academy of Science submission are blatant attempts to criminalise criticism of their narratives, and silence right wing news broadcasters.”
No doubt about it.
Thought Police. This is what dictators do.
The left regards empirical data as misinformation and treats pseudo-scientific propaganda as if it is the gospel. They recite blatant lies like scripture.
It appears that American conservatives are the only group remaining sane. How did the UK become so brainwashed?
I self identify as an independent. I wish that group was polled.
Only stupid people buy into leftist, anti-human ideology. D’OH!!!!
Left is defined by those operating primary out from emotion and feeling rather than reason and logic
Did someone really create an infographic with the ‘left’ on the right and the ‘right’ on the left?