By Justin Haskins
From April 29 to May 3, Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute, a national free-market think tank, conducted a nationwide survey of 2,000 likely voters. Included in the poll was a series of questions asking likely voters how they receive news and information, as well as several questions about climate-change-related topics. The following results from the survey illustrate likely voters’ views on these important issues, as well as how those views are correlated with news media preferences.
Some of The Heartland Institute’s key findings from an analysis of the survey include:
- There is a strong correlation between a likely voter’s favorite television news outlet and his or her understanding of basic facts about climate change.
- Compared to viewers of Fox News, “another” cable news outlet, and those who don’t watch television news, viewers of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC are substantially more likely to believe that if CO2 emissions continue to increase at recent rates, humans will “become completely or nearly extinct due to climate change” within the next 100 years.
- For example, 58% of MSNBC viewers and more than half of viewers of ABC, CBS, and NBC said they think humanity could become extinct or nearly extinct within a century.
- About one-quarter of CNN and MSNBC viewers believe humanity could become extinct within 50 years due to climate change.
- Viewers of CNN and MSNBC are substantially more likely to overestimate the amount of global warming that has occurred since the late 1800s compared to viewers of Fox News or “another” outlet. 65% percent of CNN viewers and 67% of MSNBC viewers overestimated warming by at least 40%, and three in 10 CNN and MSNBC viewers overestimated warming by more than double the real figure.
- Viewers of ABC, CBS, and NBC were also substantially more likely to overestimate global warming. Six in 10 viewers of these networks overestimated warming trends.
- Respondents who don’t watch cable news and viewers of Fox News or “another” outlet (such as The Blaze TV or Newsmax) were more likely to correctly estimate the amount of warming that has occurred since the late 1800s. More than four in 10 of the respondents in these three categories answered correctly, compared to about three in 10 viewers of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
- 55% of likely voters believe climate change is primarily caused by human beings, compared to 45% who believe long-term planetary trends are the main cause.
You can download the full survey results and all crosstabs by clicking here.
(We strongly recommend that in addition to considering our summary bullet points below, you download the full results and view the crosstabs for this survey, because this is where you’ll find the crosstabs about media preferences and other important information.)
Justin Haskins is the Editorial Director and a Research Fellow at The Heartland Institute.
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There was also an interesting MIT study that aimed to vilify “anti-maskers”, but ended up finding that they were practising quite sophisticated data literacy.
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2021/05/12/oops-mit-researchers-infiltrate-anti-maskers-but-find-they-practice-a-form-of-data-literacy-in-spades
Thanks for sharing that MarkH
“simply increasing access to raw data or improving the quality of data visualizations will not bolster public consensus about scientific findings,”
That study from MIT covered every angle except the obvious one: that the data doesn’t actually support mask mandates and the “anti maskers” correctly perceived that fact.
Strikingly similar to the recent poll that showed conservatives were more likely to correctly estimate the hospitalization rate for Covid. But “follow the science” right?
If I did a survey of my neighbors opinions on anything, it would make a great basis for a paper about psychotics, not me…them 🙂
If one pays attention to actual thermometers at various places around the world over time we can conclude that regardless of vast differences in local climate (the difference between Phoenix, AZ and Nome, Alaska) there is a roughly thirty year pattern of warming and cooling. Meanwhile the Climate Change alarmists/scammers decry a scientific average temperature that no human being has actually lived in during the entire history of man. That’s why “climate change” is pretty much of zero interest in opinion polls.
Conservative viewers are more likely to have seen and recognized agenda news and tracked this problem over time. They are more likely to notice that a lot of MSNBC content contributors went off to work for the Biden Administration after the election. Gone are the days of Dan Rather getting a personalized tour of the WH by newly elected President Bill Clinton. These days the rewards and stakes are much higher.