Oh this is funny. There’s not even any Gore involved.
We’ve seen that man-made global warming has taken some hits in the opinion polls lately, and that its 10 minutes of fame may be over, but sharp eyed blogger Dave R. at Care2 spotted this zinger. I’ve posted the graphs and tables from the polls with highlights below.
Dave R writes:
In the United States, more people believe that houses can be haunted by the dead than believe that the living can cause climate change. Is this simply a scary Halloween tale or our frightening future?
The latest Pew poll on global warming shows a large drop in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising, from 71% down to only 57% in the last 18 months. And global warming due to human activity? The overall numbers have declined from 47% to 36%. To put this in perspective, a Gallup poll found that 37% of Americans believe that houses can be haunted.
Here’s the Pew poll graphics:
And the Gallup Poll says:
Of course the margins of error for each poll is probably greater than the 1% difference noted, but it is still darn funny.
Perhaps next, to prop up the numbers, the two issues will get fused.
On the Care2 website, DaveR has a poll of his own that asks:
“Does global warming frighten you more than ghosts?”
So far, the Yes votes far outnumber the Noes.
The coin of science only has one side.
Leif, you miss my meaning. The US produces a whole passle of scientific illiterates. But it is also a leader in terms of scientific achievement. We are a lot more heterogenous than Europe, especially the west and the north of it.
(I like anna’s analogy. A moebius strip coin.)
I don’t believe in either, however this doesn’t strike me as unexpected.
Believing in ghosts is relatively easy, because a) people are gullible and b) they have direct experience of things that they consider “spooky” and which they cannot explain.
Belief in AGW is less direct and less impacting. I personally don’t buy it because I’m skeptical about the reliability of the data (and yes, I have looked at it myself and determined that I’m unconvinced… skepticism is a good thing), but most people don’t even have that data to back up anything. They look around, say “it doesn’t seem that warm to me” and get on with things.
So, this is not surprising, really.
Yes it is easy for people to believe in Ghost simply for the fact so many are searching beyond their self. Others have experienced Ghosts or something they simply are not ready to acknowledge.
AGW falls into the same category. So many do not understand while they are searching to know more about the atmosphere and what is happening. There is nothing wrong with a great skeptic I believe they help to keep most of us honest and to keep searching. Therefore, for the skeptics of Ghost and the AGW each should consider to keep searching.