Poll: Majority of Arizonans, even Republicans, believe in climate change

PHOENIX – Regardless of political affiliation or age, a majority of Arizonans believe climate change is occurring, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The OH Predictive Insights poll found that 69% of Arizonans said they believed climate change was happening.

“The existence of global warming has been hotly debated in the last decade, but climate change deniers appear to be losing the battle in Arizona,” Mike Noble, chief of research for the Phoenix-based polling firm, said in a press release.

“Arizonans of all political stripes told us that they believed climate change is occurring, including 51% of Republicans, who are generally portrayed as solidly against the idea of climate change.”

While the GOP majority was slim, the percentage of believers was much higher among both Democrats (91%) and Independents (66%).

And although belief in climate change decreased with age, a majority of all age groups said they believed in climate change. For people 18-34, 87% were believers; that dropped to 58% for ages 65 and older.

Those who responded yes also were asked how concerned they were about the climate change could have on the environment, on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely).

Half said they were extremely concerned, driven by 74% of Democrats. Only 20% of Republicans and 43% of Independents were extremely concerned.

Among those who said “yes” that climate change is occurring (n=412) 50% said they were “extremely concerned” 👇🏻 https://t.co/65gB0egIbG

— Mike Noble (@MikePNoble) May 21, 2019

GOP responses about concern were evenly distributed across the scale, with all choices except 6, which was at 8%, receiving between 13% and 20%.

While different polls use different wording, Arizonans appear to be more accepting of and concerned about climate change than the rest of the U.S.

For example, a Gallup poll conducted in March found that 66% of Americans believed global warming was caused by human activities, 59% believed the effects of global warming have begun and 44% worried a great deal about global warming.

The OH Predictive poll of likely Arizona voters was conducted May 1-2 with a combination of live calling and interactive voice response calls. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.

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