Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
U.S. adults are just as likely to say that policies aimed at reducing the effects of climate change usually help the economy as they are to say these policies usually hurt it (34% each). Among Republicans, 56% think climate policies usually hurt the economy. By contrast, 52% of Democrats say they usually help.
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Seven-in-ten Japanese say their country should reduce its reliance on nuclear energy. Skepticism about nuclear power is coupled with widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s performance: eight-in-ten say the government has done a poor job dealing with the Fukushima crisis and six-in-ten disapprove of how Tokyo has handled the overall recovery from the earthquake and tsunami.
While Japanese prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has been trying to persuade local communities it is safe to restart two nuclear reactors, 70% of Japanese say their country should reduce its reliance on nuclear energy.
About half of Americans say the price of gasoline has gone down over the past month. But West Coast residents are much more likely to see gasoline prices going up, which is consistent with a rise in prices at the pump in that part of the country. In total, 51% of the public says that […]
Overview At a time of rising gas prices, the public’s energy priorities have changed. More Americans continue to view the development of alternative energy sources as a higher priority than the increased production of oil, coal and natural gas, but the gap has narrowed considerably over the past year. Moreover, support for allowing more offshore […]
The public spreads the blame for the recent rise in gasoline prices. While 18% say President Obama or his administration are most to blame, about as many (14%) volunteer the oil companies or domestic oil producers. Roughly one-in-ten (11%) mostly blame Iran, the upheaval in the Middle East or the threat of war in the […]
Overview The percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence of global warming has increased modestly over the past two years. Currently, 63% say there is solid evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In October 2009, 57% expressed this view. The number saying global warming […]
There has been a modest increase over the past two years in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence of global warming, although substantially fewer Americans say there is solid evidence of global warming than did so from 2006 to 2008.
Overview Public support for increased federal funding on research into alternative energy technology, including solar technology, has decreased substantially since the early months of the Obama administration, with nearly all the decline coming from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Overall, 68% of the public favors increasing federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen energy […]
