Congressional Global Warming Poll: 95% of Democrats Buy It, 84% of GOP Don’t

Noel Sheppard
February 6th, 2007 2:50 PM
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You thought there was a political divide concerning the war, taxes, and abortion? Well, a newly released National Journal poll of members of Congress indicated just as strong a diametric view of whether anthropogenic global warming is real or not.

Called a “Congressional Insiders Poll,” the study asked 10 Senate Democrats, 48 House Democrats, 10 Senate Republicans, and 45 House Republicans: “Do you think it’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made problems?”

The results:

  • 95 percent of Democrats said “Yes”
  • 2 percent of Democrats said “No”
  • 84 percent of Republicans said “No”
  • 13 percent of Republicans said “Yes”

I guess this means that Republican members of Congress don't watch as much must-see TV as their seemingly more gullible brethren on the opposite side of the aisle.

Also fascinating was how all the attention on this issue, including the release of Al Gore’s schlockumentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” has actually reduced the number of Republicans that believe this junk science.

The last time this poll was performed, 23 percent of Republicans said “Yes.”

For those interested, the following is a list of participants:

Democratic Congressional Insiders Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ben Cardin, Thomas Carper, Christopher Dodd, Edward Kennedy, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar, Jon Tester; Reps. Tom Allen, Robert Andrews, Michael Arcuri, Tammy Baldwin, Melissa Bean, Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, Marion Berry, Rick Boucher, Michael Capuano, Christopher Carney, James Clyburn, Jim Cooper, Joseph Crowley, Elijah Cummings, Artur Davis, Diana DeGette, Rosa DeLauro, Eliot Engel, Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr, Chaka Fattah, Bob Filner, Kirsten Gillibrand, Alcee Hastings, Mike Honda, Steve Israel, Jim Langevin, John Lewis, Zoe Lofgren, Nita Lowey, Ed Markey, Jim McDermott, Jim McGovern, Jim Moran, David Price, Silvestre Reyes, Jan Schakowsky, Jose Serrano, Adam Smith, John Spratt, Pete Stark, John Tanner, Ellen Tauscher, Bennie Thompson, Chris Van Hollen, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Henry Waxman.

GOP Congressional Insiders Sens. Lamar Alexander, Jim Bunning, John Cornyn, Lindsey Graham, Johnny Isakson, Mel Martinez, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, John Sununu, John Thune; Reps. Marsha Blackburn, John Boehner, Kevin Brady, John Campbell, Chris Cannon, Eric Cantor, Michael Castle, Tom Cole, Mike Conaway, Tom Davis, John Doolittle, David Dreier, Phil English, Jeff Flake, Bob Goodlatte, Kay Granger, Doc Hastings, Pete Hoekstra, Bobby Jindal, Peter King, Jack Kingston, Mark Kirk, Ray LaHood, Dan Lungren, Kenny Marchant, Jim McCrery, Patrick McHenry, Cathy McMorris, John Mica, Marilyn Musgrave, Sue Myrick, Mike Pence, Tom Price, Deborah Pryce, Adam Putnam, Dave Reichert, Tom Reynolds, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, Christopher Shays, Adrian Smith, Zach Wamp, and Joe Wilson.