New Poll Shows California Voters Strongly Support State Global Warming Action--and How Far Republican Legislators Are Out of Step in Linking Their Votes on the Budget to Delays in Enforcement

First of all, bad news for global warming deniers. California voters are convinced that global warming is happening. Fully 65% say that global warming is a “proven fact” while only 31% believe that it is a “theory that has not been proven.”

Secondly, Voters see global warming as a major threat to California’s future. When asked to rate the seriousness of global warming as a threat to “the economy and quality of life of California’s future,” a 79% majority of voters sees it as a “somewhat serious threat” – including a 53-percent majority that sees it as “very serious.”

Third, our state’s voters believe California can and should take action to meet the threat posed by global warming. More than two-thirds of California voters (69%) support state government making its own policies in the absence of federal policies to address global warming. And a similar majority (67%) supports State government taking action that is stronger than federal action.

Fourth, voters are confident that California can take on the problem of global warming without suffering negative consequences for its economy. Fully 83 percent believe California “can be a leader in new technologies to improve efficiency and reduce global warming,” while 73 percent agree that “California can reduce global warming and expand jobs and economic prosperity at the same time.”

Fifth, when it comes to individual actions for California to take to implement our global warming law, support for the following ranges from 84% to 90%:

• Protecting forests and natural areas that naturally remove global warming pollution from the air
• Requiring oil companies to make cleaner gasoline
• Reducing development in outlying areas and encouraging more mass transit to reduce traffic
• Requiring energy companies to produce one-third of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar
• Requiring new appliances and homes to be more energy efficient
• Requiring seaports and heavy duty trucks to pollute less
• Requiring carmakers to make more efficient cars that pollute less and use less gasoline

Bear in mind that the state budget includes cuts for mass transit in light of these findings and that there is legislation pending by State Senator Lowenthal, SB 974, to reduce pollution from our ports and trucks that he is negotiating with the Governor.

Sixth, support for AB 32 remains strong even after voters are told about its potential impact on costs. Survey respondents were told that even while AB 32 significantly reduced global warming pollution in California, it could also lead to “increased costs for gas, electricity and some consumer goods.” Even in this context, a 58-percent majority continued to support the Global Warming Solutions Act, while just a little over one-third (35%) opposed it.

Seventh, not only do voters support action to address global warming, but they also view the other consequences of such policies as highly important. At least four in five voters see it as “very important” that policies to address global warming also have the effect of reducing our dependence on foreign oil; encouraging the development of clean, renewable energy sources; and reducing air pollution. In fact, at least two-thirds of those polled rated every item asked about as at least “very important,” including saving consumers money by helping them decrease household energy use, putting new parks and green spaces in urban areas, protecting existing wetlands, creating new clean technology jobs in California, protecting existing forest lands, and reducing the long-term cost of energy.

This poll was commissioned by Next 10, a nonpartisan nonprofit research organization, and conducted by Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, a California-based national firm specializing in public policy-oriented opinion research. Fairbank’s survey is of 800 likely voters between June 14 and 18. It has a margin of error of 3.5% on most questions and 4.9% for split samples on some questions.

Carol Whiteside, former Executive Director of the Great Valley Center in Modesto, California and the former Director of the Resources Agency under Republican Governor Pete Wilson, said: “Voters get that our dependence on fossil fuels is expensive and dangerous in the short and long-term, to consumers’ pocketbooks, national security and the air we all breathe. In the Central Valley, there is no more urgent priority than reducing toxic emissions. The package of policies under consideration by the state will also decrease the emissions causing our Valley’s dangerous air pollution, while reducing global warming pollution.”

Derek Walker, Director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund, which cosponsored AB 32, had this to say: “The message from voters in this poll is crystal clear: don’t delay implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act. Californians understand that immediate action is needed to transform California’s economy and protect our state from global warming. Any lawmaker who supports delaying AB 32 will hear strong opposition from their constituents and is risking a backlash at the polls in November.”

What part of this do California’s Republican legislators not get?