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Global warming 'a sleeper issue' in midterm election — Zogby poll
BY DARREN SAMUELSOHN, GREENWIRE, 11/17/06
More than half the voters in last week's midterm election said global warming made a difference in their choice of congressional candidates, according to a Zogby International poll released yesterday.
The telephone survey of 19,356 adults suggests climate change was more a factor than many experts had predicted. Zogby asked three climate-related questions amid a larger survey of voter preferences. Solid majorities in all suggested global warming played a role in their votes.
"Global warming was overshadowed in this election by the dominant issue of Iraq," said John Zogby, president and CEO of the Utica, N.Y.-based polling firm. "But exit polling shows that global warming was a sleeper issue that may have snuck up on politicians in close races."
Voters appear to have kept climate change in their sights as they helped Democrats sweep into power in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994.
In the first climate-related question of the Zogby poll, more than 85 percent of 7,338 Democrats interviewed said global warming was "somewhat important" in their choice of candidate. And 49 percent of 5,036 independents agreed. But a large majority (about 85 percent) of 6,982 Republicans polled said it was "not very important" or "not important at all."
Global warming preferences split along gender and regional lines. Of 9,385 men surveyed, 57 percent said it was not important if their candidate supported reducing "global warming pollution." By contrast, 56 percent of 9,766 women answered that it was "somewhat important."
In the East and West, more than half of the people surveyed said a candidate's willingness to reduce climate-related emissions were at least "somewhat important." A majority of southerners and midwesterners responded negatively to the question.
The poll's second question asked voters to state their preference -- strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree or not sure -- on the question of whether a candidate "should make combating global warming a high priority."
More than 35 percent of everyone surveyed said they "strongly agree," and about 23 percent said they "somewhat agree." The survey found 12.3 percent "somewhat disagree" and 27.9 percent who "strongly disagree." Only 2 percent said they were "not sure."
Regional differences factored into answers here too, with people in the East and West more likely to consider global warming issues important. Much larger majorities of Hispanics (64 percent), African Americans (78 percent) and Asians (71 percent) said global warming belongs among an elected official's priorities when matched with whites (55 percent).
On the final climate-related question, more than 75 percent said they agreed with the following statement: "Congress should pass legislation promoting renewables and alternative energy sources as an effective way to reduce global warming pollution." Majorities in all demographics said lawmakers should support to the two solutions, including 53 percent of self-described conservatives and nearly 37 percent of self-described "very conservative" voters.
The National Wildlife Federation commissioned the three climate-related questions, which were asked Nov. 7-10. Zogby said the poll's error margin is plus or minus 0.7 percent.
Click here for the Zogby results.
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