Climate change beliefs of independent voters shift with the weather, UNH study finds

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uonh-ccb012413.php

Public release date: 24-Jan-2013

Contact: Lori Wright
[e-mail]
603-862-0574
University of New Hampshire

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Climate change beliefs of independent voters shift with the weather, UNH study finds[/font]

[font size=3]DURHAM, N.H. – There's a well-known saying in New England that if you don't like the weather here, wait a minute. When it comes to independent voters, those weather changes can just as quickly shift beliefs about climate change.

New research from the University of New Hampshire finds that the climate change beliefs of independent voters are dramatically swayed by short-term weather conditions. The research was conducted by Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Carsey Institute, and Mary Stampone, assistant professor of geography and the New Hampshire state climatologist. The research is presented in the article "Blowin' in the Wind: Short-Term Weather and Belief in Anthropogenic Climate Change" in the American Meteorological Society journal Weather, Climate, and Society.

"We find that over 10 surveys, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart and firm in their beliefs about climate change. Independents fall in between these extremes, but their beliefs appear weakly held — literally blowing in the wind. Interviewed on unseasonably warm days, independents tend to agree with the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. On unseasonably cool days, they tend not to," Hamilton and Stampone say.

Hamilton and Stampone used statewide data from about 5,000 random-sample telephone interviews conducted on 99 days over two and a half years (2010 to 2012) by the Granite State Poll. They combined the survey data with temperature and precipitation indicators derived from New Hampshire's U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) station records. Survey respondents were asked whether they thought climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. Alternatively, respondents could state that climate change is not happening, or that it is happening but mainly for natural reasons.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00048.1

[Salviati]

1. More data to suggest that so called "independents"

are not the high minded decision makers that the media makes them out to be, carefully weighing the sides before they come to their lofty opinions. They're actually low information lazy thinkers, who probably have trouble deciding which leg of their pants to put on first.

[stuntcat]

2. "low information lazy thinkers"

precisely.