To the Editor:
Re “The
Climate Majority,” by Jon A. Krosnick (Op-Ed, June 9):
Regarding poll findings about climate change, Mr. Krosnick posits that
his question is more legitimate than others. It is but one approach and
hardly ideal. The question’s preamble is “you may have heard about the
idea that the world’s temperature may have been going up slowly” and
then asks whether this is “probably” happening. Such wordings often
encourage a positive response: this is known in the polling world as
acquiescence bias.
There are many different questions about climate change, none of them
perfect, but almost all, except Mr. Krosnick’s, show a significant
decline in belief in climate change. Pew Research not only found fewer
in 2009 seeing solid evidence of global warming, but also fewer calling
it a very serious problem and fewer naming warming a top priority for
the president and Congress.
Mr. Krosnick unfairly faults Gallup for asking whether climate change
has been exaggerated, saying that it taps into views of media coverage.
But Fox’s rather direct question—“Do you believe global warming
exists?”—shows the same trend: a 19 percentage point decline in belief
in global warming between 2007 and 2009.
And while Mr. Krosnick cites ABC News/Washington Post survey results as
similar to his, he doesn’t note that this poll also found a 12
percentage point decline in the number saying global warming is
occurring.
Far from being definitive, Mr. Krosnick’s finding is but one indicator
and an outlier at that.
Andrew Kohut
Washington, June 9, 2010
The writer is president of the Pew Research Center.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 