A significant majority of the American public, including nearly half of Republican voters, support policies that would see the government impose solutions to curb global warming, a new poll has found.
According to a poll conducted Jan. 7-22 of 1,006 adults by The New York Times, Stanford University, and the nonpartisan environmental research group, Resources for the Future, 77 percent of Americans say that the federal government should be doing a substantial amount to combat climate change.
Within those findings, 90 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of independents, and 48 percent of Republicans hold that view.
The survey also found that two-thirds of Americans say they are more likely to vote for candidates who have a climate change agenda, and less likely to support those that deny global warming science.
Specifically, 48 percent of Republicans said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports fighting climate change, described by one author of the poll as "the most powerful finding," according to the Times, given that many GOP candidates either question the science of climate change or do not address the issue publicly.
At the same time, 47 percent of Republicans still said they believe that policies designed to combat global warming would hurt the economy, the Times reported.
The poll also found that while climate change was not a top issue in determining a person's vote, 67 percent of respondents, including 48 percent of Republicans, and 72 percent of independents, said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who doubted human-caused climate change.
"The results come as climate change is emerging as a source of debate in the coming presidential campaign," the Times said.
The poll also found that 83 percent of Americans, including 61 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of independents, say that if nothing is done to reduce emissions, global warming will be a very or somewhat serious problem in the future, the Times said.
Nevertheless, there are significant differences between the two main parties on the issue.
Democrats who were surveyed were much more likely than Republicans or independents to say that the issue was important to them personally. Specifically, 63 percent of Democrats said the issue was very or extremely important to them personally, compared to 40 percent of independents and 18 percent of Republicans.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.