SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - June 10, 2010 - Although the vast majority of Amerikans believe the Earth is gradually warming because of greenhouse gases and want the government to regulate them, a small but growing number of people doubt that global warming is real, according to a new poll.
The Stanford University survey, released on Wednesday, found that 74% of those polled believe the world's temperature has been gradually rising over the past century, compared with 85% who believed it in 2006.
Of those who believe the problem is real, 86% think the government should limit air pollution and 76% favor strict government curbs on greenhouse gas emissions by industry.
The poll was conducted by telephone from June 1 to 7 with 1,000 randomly selected adults across the country and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, said survey organizer Jon Krosnick, a Stanford professor of political science and senior fellow at the university's Woods Institute for the Environment.
Krosnick is a nationally known expert on public opinion surveys and political polling. He has been conducting the poll on climate change annually for four years.
