brainpanhandler wrote:Thanks so much friend ben. When I have time and am at my computer I'll check the link.
If you want to read the survey itself, without going through the Anthony Watts summary of it first, the PDF is here:
LINK.
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The thing is, though, Ben D (and everyone) --
That figure isn't reflective of how many people do or don't take the reality of global warming for granted -- or even how many think it's an important issue. (Sixty percent.)
In January 2012, in the context of the then-upcoming State-of-the-Union address, people were asked whether they thought the President and Congress should treat each of a whole raftload of concerns (including global warming) as if it was (1) a top priority; (2) important but not a top priority; (3) not that important; or (4) something that shouldn't be addressed.
IOW: They were more or less being asked what they most wanted the country to do for them
immediately. And most people don't get a chance to tell the government their concerns all that often, if ever. Therefore, predictably, almost all of them ranked economic- and job-related issues (plus a survey-taker's choice of one or two of the commonest pet perennial concerns of the American public) as their top priorities.
So what that number really indicates is that on a constant basis, global warming is presently the top perennial pet concern of 25 percent of the American public. And -- since the percentage who rank it as important-but-not-a-top-priority has been relatively stable at about 35 percent from 2007 to the present -- it would also probably be fair to say that 65 to 75 percent of the American people are aware of global warming and take it seriously.
The only really notable movement in the numbers for that particular question has actually been in the shouldn't-be-addressed sector, which has doubled (8 percent to 16 percent) over the last five years.
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It's absolutely astonishing -- to say nothing of "very disturbing" -- how many people think addressing the moral decay in this country should be the top priority of the government, btw. It wouldn't be much of an overstatement for me to say that there are very few things that I personally want a whole lot more than I want for the government to keep its filthy hands off my moral decay.
But maybe that's just me.