The Washington Re-Post

Along with ABC News, the Washington Post as conducted an opinion poll on global warning that had some added value because it tested responses against other opinions. [Richard Morin, “Beliefs About Climate Change Hold Steady - Poll Shows Most Americans Doubt Hurricanes Are Linked to Global Warming,” The Washington Post, 10/2/2005, A16.]

The highest level results of the poll show that 56% believe in global warming, while 40% do not. These results are unchanged from April. Meanwhile, despite media reports and a flawed scientific study promoting the speculation, only 39% believe that global warming is responsible for recent increases in hurricane strength. This later group makes one wonder what is in their Kool-Aid.

Not surprisingly, the poll found a high correlation between political affiliation and opinions on global warming. Two-thirds of Democrats believe in global warming, while about same percentage of Republicans do not. Karl Mannheim would have been glad that so many elevate ideological purity over thinking and observation of reality.

Surprisingly, 23% of respondents through the hurricanes were caused by an invisible boogieman that they call God. Of those mystics, only 8% thought that He intended it as punishment; however, about half thought it was a warning. I guess His message was to stop enjoying life as existence on Earth is supposed to suck so instead embrace non-existence and look forward to being dead.

It would be good to see future Washington Post-ABC News polls breakdown results by variables that would measure the ignorance of the respondents.

One chilling aspect of these poll is that most respondent (47%) agree with President Bush that the problem of global warming should be studied more before government acts to suppress it. As our President is a pragmatic moderate, his opinion could change with a shift in public opinion on this question. While it could shift toward more force by government against individuals through regulation, it could also shift away from funding fraudulent research with government funds.

If the Washington Post wants to report on a real Bush Administration scandal, look into the continued funding of junk science studies on global warming studies and the impact of federal funding on propagating this fraud.

Further Reading

Dr. Patrick Michaels, “<AHREF="HTTP: article.asp?ID='4418"' www.capmag.com>Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection,” Capitalism Magazine, 9/24/2005

James K. Glassman, “Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. Roy Spencer,” Capitalism Magazine, 9/14/2005

James K. Glassman, “Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. James J. O'Brien,” Capitalism Magazine, 9/13/2005

James K. Glassman, “Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Meteorologist Dr. William Gray,” Capitalism Magazine, 9/12/2005

EnvironMental (1/5/2005)

Weight of the World (4/21/2004)

Images Source: Cox and Forkum

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