During the Third Hour of NBC’s Today show on Thursday, weatherman Al Roker was eager to discuss the latest poll about climate change: “I want to know how America feels about global warming.” Fellow co-host Craig Melvin thanked him for setting up the story and proceeded to tout the new survey “that 73% of Americans polled said that global warming is happening.”
“Thank you, America,” Roker happily proclaimed. He added: “People know.” Co-host and fellow NBC meteorologist Dylan Dryer chimed in: “Well, the research is there. I mean, just look at the numbers on the thermometer and you can see that they’re going up.” Roker cheered: “And even more importantly, 62% say global warming, climate change is human-caused. And this, I think, is an example of where the actual population is ahead of the politicians.”
Back in 2013, Roker was disgusted by another poll result showing that 37% of Americans thought “global warming is a hoax.” Citing recent weather events, he scolded those respondents: “Okay, two words: Superstorm Sandy!”
Basking in the more favorable polling opinion on Monday, Roker touted: “And Homeland Security and Department of Defense say the number one threat to Homeland Security is climate change.”
Joining the panel, Sunday Today host Willie Geist gushed:
And it used to be....a losing issue in politics. Don’t talk about it because nobody cares. Well, this time in 2018, there was this new generation of people who ran, and in many cases won, running for United States Congress, who talked about climate change because they know people of this next generation do care because they have learned about the impacts.
Of course all those candidates just happened to be Democrats.
It’s no surprise that a poll would find a majority of people have concerns about climate change given the fact that the media push the issue constantly. The fact that supposedly objective journalists are so invested shaping how people think about a favorite liberal agenda item shows where their priorities lie.
Here is a full transcript of the January 24 discussion:
9:05 AM ET
AL ROKER: I want to know how America feels about global warming.
CRAIG MELVIN: Let’s talk about that. Thank you so much for that transition, Mr. Roker. There’s this new survey that’s been conducted by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities, it found that 73% of Americans polled said that global warming is happening. That's a jump. And here’s the highlight here, that’s a jump of 10 percentage points from 2015. Facts apparently still do matter.
ROKER: Thank you, America. People know.
DYLAN DRYER: Well, the research is there. I mean, just look at the numbers on the thermometer and you can see that they’re going up.
ROKER: And even more importantly, 62% say global warming, climate change is human-caused. And this, I think, is an example of where the actual population is ahead of the politicians.
DRYER: And I think the reason why it’s so important to know that it’s happening, why it’s happening, the bigger issue, is because we continue to build on coastlines. You know, you look at areas like Miami, New Orleans, we want to have ocean-front property. And you build homes there, but the hurricanes happen and the coastline changes, as we know just through history, coastlines change. And humans are so much more impacted by this.
ROKER: True. 60% of our population lives along a coast.
DRYER: Right.
ROKER: And Homeland Security and Department of Defense say the number one threat to Homeland Security is climate change. Most – out of 3,500 military insulations, 1,700 are being impacted by climate change.
WILLIE GEIST: And it used to be – you know this, Craig – it used to be a losing issue in politics.
MELVIN: Oh, yeah.
GEIST: Don’t talk about it because nobody cares. Well, this time in 2018, there was this new generation of people who ran, and in many cases won, running for United States Congress, who talked about climate change because they know people of this next generation do care because they have learned about the impacts.
