Just Don’t Mention the Climate

A recent poll conducted by Frank Luntz, a political adviser more often associated with the US Republican Party and Fox News, further confirms the view that voters respond better to climate change policy if it isn’t framed in environmental terms.

In Luntz’s poll skepticism about global warming is again found to be less significant than resistance to environmentalism. So while 80 per cent of democrats and 43 per cent of Republicans are either definite or pretty sure climate change is at least in part human induced, they reject the idea of ‘sustainability’ in favour of ‘cleaner’, ‘healthier’ and ‘safer’ and ‘green’ jobs in favour of ‘American’ jobs.

“If you really want to scare Americans it’s not about glaciers that are melting or the struggle of the polar bear,” said Luntz. “What scares Americans is the idea that this great technological industry will be developed in China or India rather than America.”

Significantly, Luntz said: “The least important component of climate change is climate change.”

And a further poll (see above image) of more than 1,500 adults conducted between 6 and 10 January by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press ranked global warming as the 21st priority out of 21 issues.