New York Times : “An overwhelming majority of the American public, including half of Republicans, support government action to curb global warming, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and … Resources for the Future.

“The poll also found that two-thirds of Americans said they were more likely to vote for political candidates who campaign on fighting climate change. They were less likely to vote for candidates who questioned or denied the science that determined that humans caused global warming.”

Greg Sargent observes that this news is more complicated: “For one thing, the percentages who favor action in theory are far higher than the percentages who favor specific policy responses.”  

“Here’s where the ‘Climate Non-Committalism’ comes in … [Republicans] have been increasingly eschewing full blown climate denialism or skepticism for the position that, Yes, the climate is changing, but who knows why, and you know , I’m not a scientist, so I’m not really qualified to talk about this, and, oh yeah, BOO! WAR ON COAL! Look over there, instead! ”  

“Which makes sense, right? If Republicans now see global warming as a problem but don’t feel urgently about acting on it, Climate Non-Committalism is a perfect way out. It speaks to the sense that acting just must kill jobs (as Republican leaders keep saying) and also avoids saddling Republicans with an overtly anti-science image that could be harmful among swing voters.”