Poll shows growing belief that global warming is occurring

A new poll shows that a large majority of Americans believe global warming is occurring, but reveals a sharp partisan divide over its causes.

The Ipsos poll released Friday finds that 83 percent of Americans believe the planet is warming, up from 75 percent in 2010.

Seventy-two percent of Republicans believe it’s happening, compared to 92 percent of Democrats, according to the poll conducted for Stanford University and Reuters.

“A large majority (71%) believe that if warming has been happening, it has been caused either partly (45%) or mostly (27%) by things people have been doing. 27% believe warming to be the result of natural causes,” a summary states.

But from there a major partisan split emerges about whether humans are to blame. The summary states:

37% of Democrats believe global warming is the result primarily of human action, while only 14% of Republicans believe this. Conversely, 43% of Republicans believe global warming is the result of natural causes, up from 35% in 2010. Self-identified Tea Party members display still more certainty (49%) that global warming is caused by natural events.

The poll also reveals hardening attitudes, noting that the percentage of adults certain that warming is happening climbed from 45 percent to 53 percent, but “those who do not believe in global warming have become more resolute in their attitude (certainty from 35% in 2010 to 53% in 2011).”

Ipsos surveyed 1,134 adults by phone between Sept. 8 and 12, and the margin of error is plus-or-minus 3 percent.

The overwhelming majority of scientists say global warming is real and that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are a major driver.

The National Research Council, in a report this year, noted that climate change is “very likely caused primarily” by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2009, 18 scientific groups — including the American Meteorological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science — issued a joint statement on the matter.

They said that greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the “primary driver” of climate change.