Polling climate in Alaska

"Three-quarters of Alaskans are sold on the existence and seriousness of global warming, but far fewer are convinced that it's caused by human activity, according to a poll commissioned by Alaska Dispatch News," reports Alaska Dispatch News (February 13, 2016).

Asked, "Which statement comes closest to your view about global warming?" and presented with "Global warming is caused mostly by human activity such as burning fossil fuels," "Global warming is caused mostly by natural patterns in the earth's environment," and "Global warming does not exist," 50.8% of respondents preferred the human activity answer, 38.0% preferred the natural patterns answer, 7.4% preferred the denial answer, and 3.8% were unsure.

The newspaper noted that "answers fell along party lines, with 79.9 percent of Democrats attributing climate change to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, and 59.6 percent of registered Republicans convinced climate change is natural."

The poll was conducted by Ivan Moore Research as part of the Alaska Survey. The survey polled 750 Alaskans by telephone (300 on landlines and 450 on cellphones); questions about political affiliation were asked only of the 651 self-identified registered voters.