President Donald Trump's stance and policies on climate change are opposed by a majority of Americans, a poll released Wednesday indicated. More than three-quarters of Americans surveyed—76 percent—are at least somewhat concerned by climate change, according to a Quinnipiac University poll, with 59 percent saying more needs to be done to address the problem.
Trump signed an executive order last week gutting former President Barack Obama's landmark Clean Power Plan. At the signing, Trump appeared alongside coal workers and celebrated the order for saving and reviving the coal industry. The order followed through on his promise to prioritize jobs rather than tackling the issue of climate change, which has seen the average temperature on the planet rise by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century and is expected to see it rise several more degrees in the coming decades, causing dangerous rises in sea levels.
However, 68 percent of Americans responding to the Quinnipiac poll, which surveyed 1,171 voters nationwide from March 20 to April 3, said that the U.S. could both protect jobs and fight climate change. Only 24 percent said one goal hurt the other, with 72 percent responding that it was a "bad idea" to cut funding for scientific research. Overall, only 18 percent indicated that the United States was doing enough to combat climate change, with the same figure stating the country was doing too much.
Voters also opposed Trump policies in other areas. Sixty-two percent said that Trump should not remove specific regulations intended to combat climate change, and 66 percent said they were at least somewhat concerned that climate change will personally affect them or a family member.
Only 19 percent of those polled said they believed climate change was a hoax. Sixty-five percent said they believed climate change was caused by human activity.
Before becoming president, Trump frequently tweeted that climate change was a hoax, often linking his claims, which contradict at least 97 percent of climate scientists, to freak cold-weather events.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2014
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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