US voters believe lack of action on global warming is irresponsible and short-sighted

The survey also shows that an overwhelming majority of voters believe that the US must act now in order to curb the effects of global warming. Furthermore, the respondents claimed that the best way to meet the country’s energy needs is “through renewable energy, energy efficiency standards and more fuel-efficient cars, minivans and SUVs”.

Zogby surveyed over 1,000 registered voters nationwide in mid-June. They discovered that fewer than one-in-four Bush voters support the President’s proposal to rely on a voluntary approach to reducing global warming pollutants. There was strong opposition from men and women of all ages in different regions to the Bush administration’s ‘adapt to the inevitable’ approach to global warming.

Many of the three quarters of voters who supported the setting of emissions standards on power plants and other industries running on fossil fuels, were found to be Republicans and had voted for President Bush. Seventy five percent of all respondents, and 65% of Republican voters, agreed with the statement that doing nothing about global warming is “irresponsible and short-sighted”.

“Congress and the Bush administration listened to the fossil fuel industry when they hatched their energy plans, but this poll shows that they ignored the will of the American pubic,” Alden Meyer, Director of Government Relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists commented. “It’s time for Washington to learn what the vast majority of Americans already know: we have the technology to reduce our dependence on dirty, outdated energy sources that cause global warming.”

A recent report produced by the Bush administration, concluded that global warming is taking place, that it is being caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, and that it will bring heat waves, water shortages, rising seas and other serious problems to the U.S. over the next few decades (see related story).

“In denying the urgent need to begin tackling the global warming problem, President Bush has had to distance himself from experts in his own administration,” said Meyer. “This poll shows that the President’s head-in-the-sand stance on global warming is also distancing himself from the public.”