Thereโs a fascinating new public opinion analysis out today from Anthony Leiserowitz and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. It looks at political divides and how they impact oneโs views of the science, but with this new twistโTea Partiers and Republicans are treatedย differently.
And look whatย results:
- 53 percent of Republicans believe global warming is happening, but just 34 % of Teaย Partiers.
- 56 percent of Republicans, but 69 % of Tea Party members, say there is โa lot of disagreementโ among scientists about whether global warming isย happening.
- Tea Party members are much more likely than Republicans (45 % to 20 %) to have heard ofย โClimateGate.โ
- Staggering, but not surprising if youโve been following my posts: โTea Party members are much more likely to say that they are โvery well informedโ about global warming than the other groups,โ according to the Yale study. โLikewise, they are also much more likely to say they โdo not need any more informationโ about global warming to make up theirย mind.โ
In other words, Tea Party members are more extreme than Republicans in their rejection of the scientific consensus on global warmingโsimultaneously more wrong, and also more sure ofย themselves.
Whatโs up withย that?
Well, the study also shows that Tea Partiers are more likely than other Republicans to be โborn againโ Christians and to doubt evolution, and highly individualistic and anti-egalitarian in their moralย values.
In short, what we appear to be seeing in them is a kind of merger of right wing free market views on the one hand, and the unwavering certainty associated with certain forms of fundamentalist religion on theย other.
They know theyโre right, they know that liberals and scientistsโand most of all, President Obamaโare wrong, and there is no swaying them in that. (There is also some reason to think that Tea Party members are authoritarian in their outlook, wanting to impose various types of Christian views inย government.)
When you merge this with previous data on white male conservatives and climate change, it becomes apparent that the person least likely to change his mind on this issue and accept the science is a 1) white 2) male 3) conservative 4) Tea Partyย American.
So what should we do? This gets back to the whole debate with Dave Roberts about whether to โbeatโ them by being better at politics. That’s a tactical discussion where folks will differ, but one thing is clearโwe’re all better off in knowing precisely who the oppositionย is.
