Poll: Opinions on Global Warming

Pew Research has a new opinion study on the subject. It's kinda depressing that public opinion on the topic could be so vastly out of sync with expert opinion, particularly among Republicans. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that FOX News and the Drudge Report consistently misrepresent the facts on this topic whenever it comes up. To pick out just one of the endless supply of examples, FOX News recently pushed a bit of misinformation from James Inhofe (R-OK), claiming that "400 prominent scientists" dispute global warming. This, despite the fact that one didn't have to be a scientist at all, and didn't even have to dispute the idea of anthropogenic warming, in order to make it onto Inhofe's dishonestly compiled list. Many scientists, upon learning of their inclusion, have requested that their names be removed. To take just another example, FOX regularly relies on former Exxon lobbyist Steven Milloy to spout numerous lies, which I've covered here, here, and here (and elsewhere). This is not journalism - and it apparently has an effect on public opinion. The only word that seems to fit here is "propaganda" (or possibly "ignorance").

UPDATE: For more information on the interaction between warming temperatures and hurricanes, as well as the actual scientific debate between William Gray and Kerry Emanuel, I highly recommend reading Storm World.

UPDATE II: With regard to the original post, it's perhaps best to just take a look at the temperatures themselves, via NASA:

Really Low Information Voters

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — One in 10 voters believes Barack Obama is Muslim, a mistaken impression that lingers across party lines, a poll showed Wednesday.

Fourteen percent of Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents mistakenly think he is Muslim, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Just over half of each group correctly identified him as Christian, while about a third said they don't know his religion.

[...]

Conservatives, less educated voters and white evangelical Protestants are likelier to believe Obama is Muslim, as are people from the South, the Midwest and rural areas, the poll showed. Nearly a quarter of white Democrats with unfavorable views of Obama say he is Muslim though overall, blacks are about as likely as whites to hold the misconception.

Things like this worry me about our Democracy.

Poll: McCain's Favorability

It looks like Democrats and Independents are starting to jump ship.
(From Pew Research)

Poll: Officers on Homosexuals in the Military

Foreign Policy recently conducted a survey of "3,400 officers holding the rank of major or lieutenant commander and above from across the services, active duty and retired, general officers and field-grade officers." According to the survey, they're more open to reinstating the draft than they are to allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military.

Democratic Race Tightening

Wow. Just two weeks ago, Clinton held a 20-point national lead. Now it's narrowed down to two points, according to Gallup.

Of course, you also have to keep in mind that there are still plenty of undecided voters, and that there is no "national" election on Tuesday - just an election in 22 states. That is, of course, an entirely different thing. But it looks like Super Tuesday is really going to come down to the wire.

UPDATE: Real Clear Politics, taking the past few polls into account, still has Clinton up by 7. She's certainly still ahead, but things are starting to get close.

UPDATE II: Looks like it's loosening now:

Poll: CNN Reporting

Poll: Giuliani's Support

(From The Washington Post and ABC News - via TPM)

Poll: Head-to-Head Matchups

(From a new CNN poll - via Matthew Yglesias)

Keep in mind that this is just one of many polls.

Poll: More Americans Believe in Devil Than Darwin

From the new Harris poll:

TABLE 1

WHAT PEOPLE DO AND DO NOT BELIEVE IN

"Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not"

Base: All Adults

		Believe In	Don’t Believe In	Not Sure	2005	Change
					BelieveIn	2005-2007
God	%	82	8	10	82	-
Miracles	%	79	10	12	73	+6
Heaven	%	75	12	14	70	+5
Angels	%	74	12	14	68	+6
Jesus is God or the Son of God	%	72	15	13	70	+2
The resurrection of Jesus Christ	%	70	16	15	66	+4
Survival of the soul after death	%	69	12	19	70	-1
Hell	%	62	22	16	59	+3
The Devil	%	62	23	15	61	+1
The Virgin birth (Jesus born of Mary)	%	60	22	18	58	+2
Darwin’s theory of evolution	%	42	31	26	N/A	N/A
Ghosts	%	41	35	24	40	+1
Creationism	%	39	27	34	N/A	N/A
UFOs	%	35	36	29	34	+1
Witches	%	31	51	19	28	+3
Astrology	%	29	46	25	25	+4
Reincarnation – that you were once another person	%	21	50	29	21	-

Poll: What is Behind Anti-Hillary Sentiment?

I'm a little surprised that "A man should be President" is ranked so highly (8%).

(via Gallup)

New Poll Numbers

From the AP:
34% believe in ghosts.
23% say they have actually seen a ghost (or believe they have been in one's presence)
48% believe in ESP

Presidential Trends

The major news networks tend to focus on national polls, giving snapshots of who is leading at any particular time. However, I find the trend lines in key states such as Iowa and New Hampshire to be a bit more revealing.

Here are the polls for Republican candidates in Iowa:


Here are the polls for Republican candidates in New Hampshire:


People tend to talk about Giuliani as the Republican frontrunner, but these seem to show a different picture.

On the Democratic side, things look a little less clear in Iowa:


Yet there's an obvious leader in New Hampshire:

Gallup Poll - GOP and Evolution

A new Gallup poll on evolution shows that a majority of Republicans (68%!) are scientifically illiterate. C'mon guys, you're making the rest of the country look bad.


Although the correlation is even stronger in this group:


It's worth reading the link, which outlines the reasons why people tend to not believe in evolution. The #1 reason? "I believe in Jesus Christ." Seriously. Other popular reasons include "I believe in the almighty God, creator of Heaven and Earth," "Due to my religion and faith," "I believe in what I read in the Bible," and "I'm a Christian." According to Gallup, "The majority of these responses are clearly religious in nature."

48%

According to a recent Newsweek poll, 48% of the American population rejects the scientific theory of evolution. Out of 34 countries surveyed, we ranked 33rd. Only Turkey is more averse to the idea.

In related news, Ken Ham is still traveling the country to teach children that man and dinosaurs co-existed just like in the Flintstones: