"Maybe it's the weather. Or the Pope. Or the irrefutable scientific data. Or perhaps a combination of all three.

The latest UT Energy Poll released this morning reveals that U.S. attitudes on climate change have shifted significantly - and not just in the ways you might expect. Seventy-six percent of Americans now say that climate change is occurring--an increase from 68 percent just one year ago. Further, only 14 percent say it's not, compared with 22% when we first asked the question in the Spring of 2012.

The increase in acceptance climate change is not merely reflective of shifting attitudes on the left, which only rose a few points to 90 percent over the last six months. Republicans who say that climate change is occurring jumped from 47 percent in March to 59 percent this September. "

Sheril Kirshenbaum reports for Scientific American's Plugged In blog October 20, 2015. Kirshenbaum directs the University of Texas Energy Poll. [2]

SEE ALSO:

Op-Ed: "Voters to GOP: 'I'm Not a Scientist' Won't Cut It on Climate Change" (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-maibach-gop-climate-change-po... [3]