The effect of Climategate
Populus polled the UK on climate change in early November 2009, before Climategate, and again in early February 2010.
The findings, and the changes from November to February are:
- 75% (-8%) agree global warming is happening
- 34% (-16%) of that 75% agree it is an established scientific fact that climate change is largely man-made
- 50% (+11%) say man-made global warming is a widespread theory but has not been conclusively proved
- 14% (+5%) say man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda with little or no evidence
Now to look at these numbers as shares of the total population, they are:
- 25% (+8%) say there is no global warming
- 11% (+4%) say there is global warming but it is natural
- 38% (+6%) say there is global warming but it has not been conclusively proven it is man-made, however that is the widespread theory
- 26% (-16%) say that there is global warming and it is an established scientific fact it is largely man-made
So this shows the magnitude of the changes. Those who say it is a fact we have man-made global warming has dropped from 42% to 26%. That is a relative decline of almost 40%, so one in three people who believed global warming is definitely man-made have changed their minds.
UPDATE: This Blunt cartoon seems topical
