From the Center for American Progress
Action Fund's "The Progress Report," February 6, 2006
GLOBAL WARMING -- ONLY 13 PERCENT OF
CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS BELIEVE IN MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGE: National
Journal has released a new "Congressional Insiders Poll," which surveyed 113
members of Congress -- 10 Senate Democrats, 48 House Democrats, 10 Senate
Republicans, and 45 House Republicans -- about
their
positions on global warming. The results are startling. Only
13
percent of congressional Republicans say they believe that human activity is
causing global warming, compared to 95 percent of congressional Democrats.
Moreover, the number of Republicans who believe in human-induced global warming
has
actually dropped since April 2006 -- when the number was 23 percent --
despite multiple authoritative reports confirming climate science. In June 2006,
the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization created by
Congress to provide scientific guidance, unequivocally concluded that natural
causes cannot explain the unprecedented warmth over the last 400 years. Rather,
"
human
activities are responsible for much of the recent warming," the report
states. This month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "concluded for
the first time that
global
warming is 'unequivocal' and that human activity is the main driver, 'very
likely' causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950." Nevertheless,
belief in global warming among Republicans in Congress dropped by 10
points.